just started. we knew all along that this would not be easy. i have enormous appreciation for the hard work done. to try to negotiate bipartisan compromise on background checks. i want everyone to understand this is just beginning. it is not the end. forces at work to defeat this , thement became obsessed loss -- they lost sight of the big picture. the big picture is sometimes made up of little pictures. people like jessica went to watch a movie and was gunned down in aurora, colorado. families i met today from newtown, beautiful little children who were murdered.

this is only the beginning. of democrats on the floor stood with 90% of the american people. for expanding background checks. thepreciate very much handful of republicans who crossed the aisle to stand with us on this commonsense issue, to keep felons and people with emotional problems from having guns. is that theact overwhelming of senate ignoring there voices of 90% of the american people. ,ot people from dallas, texas

new york city, l.a., but everyone in america from every state. , on issueime again after issue, i'm sorry to say republicans put their short- term political goals and interests at the interest of mainstream americans. awakeerican people are and alert. they are paying attention. they will stand for this forever. stand for thist forever. expandingricans agree background checks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and terrorists is one of them. other republican party has become even more out of step, more extreme than it was before. that says a lot. this process,of

i need a clean any legislation -- on thes the senate floor today, i heard some wonky sounding language. what this means is that this issue will not go away. the people behind me have been hurt physically and emotionally with violent -- violence. they will continue working with us. we have not given up. they deserve better. the families deserve better. i pledge to keep them and and assure them i will do everything i can do fight for meaningful background check legislation. the fight has just begun. it will not go away.

i will call upon joe from west virginia. he drafted the legislation. this is an extremely good piece of legislation. joe. >> let me say thank you to hairy and all of our colleagues that voted in support of this. all of ourd colleagues that voted in support of this. i assure you this is not over. i'm proud of west virginia constituents who have supported me through this. we took time to talk to them. this is a very reasonable approach. i thank my colleagues. everyone came together to try to make this the most balanced approach that we possibly could. we never forgot the sacrifices that have been made for us to be here today. i want to commit to the families. if wefamily of violence,

can muster up enough courage, one ounce of the clergy they have shown as they come here to explain to us that they want a commonsense approach preventing criminals and preventing people who are mentally ill and mentally unstable found so by a court not to be able to buy a gun at a gun show, at a gun store, or online. that is common sense. it is not democratic or republican. it is american common sense. we will not quit until we are able to cheer that -- to do that. god bless you. >> i want to say thank you to my colleagues. i want to acknowledge the republican to step forward and showed extraordinary occurred on their part, including mark of illinois and senator collins and

senator mccain. those names will be placed on the record for those who stood up for sensible gun safety laws in america. i think jo put it well. the parents who have come here and the family members -- i think joe put it well. the parent to have come here in the family members, we need to find a political courage with the disappointment in this vote today. this is not the end. there is more that we can do and will do. reaching out to convince members who voted the other way today and perhaps in the next election to challenge them. bring the issue forward to the american people. this is worth the fight. we have got to stand up to bring sensible gun safety to america. god forbid what tomorrow's victims will be, but we know they will be there. we have to do everything we can to spare another family from this agree.

thank you. let me salute all of my andeagues, particularly joe the families who have lit a candle. that is a hard, hard thing to do when you go through what they went through. you do not want to get out of bed, let alone come here and argue truth to power, which you have done. it will not be forgotten. it will be helpful. mistruth, brute, political force won out over what is right. america will be a less safe place because of it. i say to the families, i say to the american people, many

cannot understand what is happening here in this capital. don't give up faith. things change quickly in washington. they have changed for gay marriage. they are changing for immigration. they will change for gun safety sooner than you think. we will win this fight. when the american people are on our side, when wright is on our side, it takes a long time for these wheels of democracy to grind forward, but they will. , frommilies, all of you newtown, colombo i'm -- colu mbine, and all of you who have come because your son was killed on a street corner, your actions will give us the strength, the courage, and the rectitude to win this fight.

we will not rest until we win. thank you. it is such a disappointing and unbelievable vote today. i want to echo senator schumer thesaying thank you to families behind us today for their courage and you mind them that you have made a difference. today is disappointing. but the future is what we are focused on. out to say thank you to senator -- i wantthis is not to say thank you to senator reid. there will be others that follow. that it no sense today is easier to buy an airplane ticket than it is to -- it is easier to buy a weapon than it is to buy an airplane ticket. it makes no sense to me.

through what go these families have gone through. i salute them for their courage. i honor them. we will not give up. neither should you. i want to begin by saying thank you majority leader reid for his leadership and perseverance. there'll be a lot of hindsight about whenndsights something should have been done and how. i'm proud to stand behind him and his commitment to see this caused through. it means more than i can say. today was a heartbreaker. probably the saddest day of my years in public life. the hardest part was to try to look at these families in the how 90%explain to them of the american people can be on their side of the united states senate failed to reach 60 votes.

i have not the word yet. i do not know what explanation is. but i know as they have said to me, we will be back. what i said to them is, it is not over. they said to me, it is not even close to over. i want to say thank you for their lesson in being resolute and resilient in the face of the law. it is a lesson for all of america here today. it is in this picture, which is worth 1000 words. we will see this caused through. it is not going away. they are not going away. the newtown families will be back. they will give a face and a voice to all of the victims of violence. the 3400 since their loss in

december and the many who perished before them. i'm proud to stand with them today. safer. make america thank you. thank you senator reid and fortor mansion -- manchin getting us through this day. it is a sad day and shameful day. it is a day when a republican filibuster stood in the way of 90% of americans. ofwe need any truer version the filibuster, we saw today. ersino other the filibuster, we saw it today. one mother said, nothing could hurt her now. she had been hurt so deep that there is nothing less that could hurt her deeper. as difficult as the state is for the families in newtown, they will come back, day after day,

week after week, month after month. that is why i know we will be victorious. i do not think we could have gotten the compromise without families. it will be the families that will deliver the ultimate victory for this issue. when some families came down here to lobby after the president's visit to connecticut, one of the mothers held above her head as she got on air force one a sign that said, love wins. love may not have won this week , but we know that it will. nation that that transformed after newtown. today is a temporary set back. it is one that level ultimately overcome. ultimatelyl overcome. >> the president also spoke

about the vote background checks. >> my name is mark. four months ago, my wife jackie and i lost our son. our children, james and natalie , they lost their little brother, daniel. he was a first grader at sandy hook elementary school. our suite 70 daniel, one of 20 children, six adults lost on december 14. one of 20et daniel, children, six adults lost on december 14. in our group, we were supported by the love of our families and comforted by the love and prayers to be received for millions of americans from every corner of the country. what happened in newtown can happen anywhere in any instant

and on any day in america -- anyone in america could be in my shoes. no one should feel the pain. no one should feel the pain felt by thousands of people who have lost loved ones to senseless gun violence. that is why we are here. weeks ago, we came to washington to have a discussion on how to bring common sense to the issue of gun violence. reale optimistic that conversation can begin that could save the lives of so many americans. we met with dozens of democrats and republicans and shared with them pictures of our children, spouses, parents who lost their lives and he summer 14. -- december 14. we can to support a bipartisan suppose i'll -- proposal from

two senators, both with a ratings run the nra. a commonsense proposal supported by 90% of americans. it is a proposal that will save lives without interfering with the rights of responsible, law- abiding gun owners. we will return home now, disappointed, but not defeated. we returned home with a determination that change will happen. maybe not today, but it will happen. it will happen soon. we have always known this will be a long road. we do not have the luxury of turning back. we will keep moving forward and build public support for commonsense solutions in the areas of mental health, school safety, and gun safety. we take strength and the children and loved ones that we lost. we carry a great faith in the american people. on behalf of the sandy hook

promise, i would like to say thank you to president obama, vice president biden for their leadership and standing strong and continuing to fight for a safer america. i would like to say they're see forhank you to the senators legislation that would keep guns out of hand and save lives. they stood by us right from the beginning. they were with us. we will not be defeated. we are not defeated. we will not be defeated. we are here now. we will always be here. we have no other choice. we are not going away. every day more people are killed in this country because of gun violence. our determination grows stronger. we leave washington hoping that others, both here and across

the country, will join us in making the sandy hook promise. i pledge that we have great hope that more senators will take literally. i would like to end i repeating the sandy hook thomas begins, our hearts are broken. our spirits is not. thank you. it is now my great pleasure to introduce the president of the united states of america, barack obama. >> good job. , in few months ago response to too many tragedies, including the shootings of a u.s. congressman, gabrielle schoolchildren and

their teachers, we took up the cause of protecting our people from gun violence. families that no one speakable grief summoned the courage to petition to the elected leaders. not just to honor the memory of their children, but to protect the lives of all of our children. a few minutes ago, a minority in the united states senate decided it was not worth it. they blocked commonsense gun reform even while these families looked on from the senate gallery. , it is well-known that 90% of the american people support universal background checks that make it harder harder for a dangerous person to buy a gun. were talking about convicted felons, people convicted of domestic violence, people with

severe mental illness. 90% of american support that idea. most americans think that is already the law. a few minutes ago, 90% of democrats in the senate voted for that idea. but it is not going to happen is 90% of republicans in the senate voted against that idea. a majority of senators voted yes to protecting more of our citizens with smarter background checks. this continuing distortion of senate rules, i minority was able to block it from moving forward. minority was able to block it from moving forward. i will speak lately and honestly about what happened. the american people are trying to figure out how it didn't happen.

we had a democrat and a ,epublican, both gun owners both the pierced offenders of the second amendment with a g rades in the nra work together for a commonsense compromise on background checks. i want to save missy to them for the courage in doing that. it was not easy given their traditional strong support for second amendment rights. no one could honestly claim that the package that they put together infringed on our second amendment rights. all it did was extend the same background check rule that already applied to gun purchase from a dealer two guns purchased at gun shows or over the internet. 60% of guns are purchased through a background check

system. this would have covered a lot of the guns that are currently outside that system. their legislation showed respect for gun owners and it showed respect for the victims of gun violence. giffords is both. she is a gun owner and a bit dumb of gun violence. -- and a victim of gun violence. even the nra used to support expanded background checks. the current leader of the nra used to support these background checks. did notis compromise contain everything i wanted or everything that these families wanted, it did represent progress. it represented moderation and common sense. that is why 90% of the american people supported it.

but instead of supporting this compromise, the gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill. they claimed it would create some big brother registry, even though the bill to the opposite. this legislation outlawed any registry. plain and simple, right there in the text. but that did not matter. unfortunately, this pattern of spreading untruths about this legislation served a purpose. and intensepset minority of gun owners. it intimidated a lot of senators. several of these senators over the past few weeks. they are all good people. i know all of them were shocked by the tragedies like newtown. i also understand that they come from states that are strongly

pro-gun. i have said that there are regional differences when it comes to guns. both sides had to listen to each other. but the fact is, most of the senators could not offer any good reason why we would not want to make it harder for criminals and those with severe mental impulses to buy a gun -- mental illnesses to buy a gun. there were no coherent arguments as to why we would not do this. it came down to politics. the worry that the vocal minority of gun owners would come after them in future elections. they worry that the gun lobby would spend a lot of money and painted as anti-second amendment. that of republicans have fear. democrats have that fear to. -- too. they caved to the pressure and

started looking for any excuse to vote no. i heard wasrgument that this legislation could prevent all future massacres. that is true. as i said from the start, no single piece of legislation and stop every act of violence and evil. we learn that tragically two days ago. by congress could have saved one person, one child, a few hundred, a few thousand, if it could have prevented those people from losing their lives to gun violence in the future while preserving our second amendment rights, we have an obligation to try. met that task.n too many senators failed theirs. i have heard some say that it

would have been a victory. my question is, a victory for who? a victory for what? was the happened today preservation of the loophole that lets a dangerous criminals by guns without a background check. that does not make our kids safer. victory for not doing something that 90% of americans, 80% of republicans and the vast majority of your constituents wanted to get done? who are we question, here to represent? i have heard folks say that having the families of the victims lobby for legislation was somehow misplaced. a prop, somebody called them. emotional blackmail. are they serious?

do we really think that thousands of families whose lives have been shattered by gun violence do not have a right to weigh in on this issue? iswe think their emotions not relevant to this debate? all in all, this was a pretty shameful day for washington. .ut this effort is not over i want to make it clear to the american people that we can still bring about meaningful change that reduces gun violence so long as american people do not give up on it. even without congress, my administration will do everything it can to protect more of our communities. we will drop the barriers that prevent states from participating in the existing background system. we will give law enforcement more information about lost and

stolen guns so they can do their job. you'll put in place emergency plans to protect our children in their schools -- we will put in place emergency plans to protect our children in their schools. we can do more if congress gets its act together. if this congress refuses to listen to the american people and pass commonsense gun legislation, the real impact will have to come from the voters. to all the people who supported this legislation, law enforcement and responsible gun owners, democrats and republicans, urban moms and rural hunters, whoever you are, you need to let your representatives in congress know that you are disappointed. if they do not act this time, you will remember, election time. to the wide majority of nra households who supported this legislation, let your

leaderships and lobbyists know that they do not represent your views on this one. , those who care deeply about preventing more and more gun violence will have to be as passionate and as organized and as focal as those steps to helpese make our kids safe. ultimately you outnumber those who argue the other way. but they are better organized and better financed. he have been at it longer. -- they have been at it longer. you canthe reason why have something that 90% of americans support and you the senateit through or the house of representatives. , you, thewashington

american people will have to passion about this. when necessary, you have to send the right people to washington. that requires strength. it requires persistence. that is the one thing these families should have inspired in all of us. i still do not know how they have been able to muster up the strength to do what they have been doing over the last several weeks, last several months. one. this as just round when newtown happened, i met with these families and they spoke with the community. i said, something must be different now. we will have to change. that is what the whole country said.

everybody talks about how we are going to change something to make sure it did not happen again. just like everyone talked about how we needed to do something after aurora. everyone talk about how we have to change something after tucson. that thessuming emotions that we all felt since newtown, the emotions that we ,ave felt in tucson, aurora chicago, a pain that we share with these families all across the country will have lost loved ones to gun violence. i'm assuming that is not a temporary thing. i'm assuming our expressions of grief and our commitment to do something different to prevent these things from happening are not empty words.

i believe we will be able to get this done. sooner or later, we will get this right. the memories of these children demand it and so do the american people. thank you, everyone. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013]

>> i was president obama at the white house this afternoon following the defeat -- that was president obama at the white house this afternoon following the the feet -- the defeat of the gun legislation. an amendment extending background checks for gun buyers. he will open up the phone miclis -- lines. they voted. the senate will be back tomorrow. here are the numbers to use. 3885.licans -- 202-585- -3886.ats -- 202-585

585-3887.nce -- 202- we are also available on facebook and twitter. what was the best but the white house and senate democratic leadership would have expected out of these amendment votes? go ahead. >> it look like the white house might be able to wrestle 60 votes out of the biggest proposals that they have been pushing since the newtown shootings. that was an expansion of the background check system. that was in the form of the manchin-toomey amendment. it did not succeed. it fell six votes short. they were hoping to get 60 or 61 or 62. they did not get that. >> the president called those 60

votes a distortion of senate rules. what did he mean by that? >> pretty much any amendment in any bill itself can be filibustered or at least subject to that. it really empowers the minority. that is the reason the senate was set up the way it is set up. increasingly we are seeing that the minority of republicans in the senate can force closure votes on anything that they want and subject anything to that 60 votes threshold. there is a lot of frustration among democrats. they cannot get done what they want to get done. >> the senate is back on thursday with two bills. what is harry reid's next move? question. the he voted in favor of the background checks proposal submitted by senator manchin and toomey change his vote at

the last minute and said no. withs very clear today reporters that he intended to do that. it is not over by a long shot. he is keeping that in his back pocket and try to increase the public pressure and get over that 60 vote threshold. or he could choose to amend the bill that is currently before the senate and tie to trim out some of them are controversial issues. is a legal affairs reporter for cq roll call. there's a for joining us. now they get to your phone calls on the debate and the votes in the senate. republican collar. thank you for waiting. -- republican caller. thank you for calling. go ahead. >> as well allow more guns to be on the street.

more people can be killed. -- many to turn around and say, enough is enough. >> what you think about the senator toomey's effort? >> i think he is good. he can do a better job at getting back in their -- there. don't stop at all. even the president needs to go back in there. he should go there and say, this is enough. i watched all of this on tv, the shooting in connecticut. it is definitely wrong. >> thank you for your call. south carolina. democrat line. taking my call.

i'm really disgusted with what happened today. i agree with the previous caller. enough is enough. i do not understand the logic in not passing any of these amendments. it is ridiculous. kentucky. independent line. what is your thoughts? all 7 amendments going down to debate. -- defeat. >> they always block it. they get down there and talk and then they turn around and don't do it. the people that they represent do not get represented. >> what is the best that you would hope for? let them know that they care

little bit. they are it for the big business only. they just care for the lobbyists. they do not care for the people. eye onre keeping our twitter. let's take a look. answers on i want benghazi. what about fast and furious? sad day to be an american when we cannot even count on our senators to be over voice. gary on our republican line. >> hi. i'm against anything that touches the constitution of the united states. it has been good for over 200

some years. i think it will prevail for another 200 some years or more. , if you baning is any type of run we get background checks or anything, believe me, it will not stop the criminals from getting guns. they don't care about the law. if he breaks other laws like killing people, he does not care about this law. this law will mean nothing to him. he only thing it will do is take guns out of people's hands who are law-abiding citizens. hisobama, what he said company would we represent in this country? -- could weeople represent? the same thing happened during the health care bill. people didof the not want it, but he ignored that. ,t is ok with him to do this

to say this company should have ofn ok for him to say 70% people don't want it, then we should not have it. >> the senate finished its work for the evening after defeating seven gun control amendments. they will be back in tomorrow morning and debate onto mark. that is on c-span 2. minnesota. democrat line. >> hi. i was frustrated. >> i will put you on hold for a quick second. we will get back to you in a moment. texas. independent line. >> today was a victory for a constitutional rights and shame on president obama, if you can call him president. all it is doing is making a mockery. he is just trying to win points by having these victims on tv

and acting like he cares about them. he will be off playing golf somewhere tomorrow. i'm ashamed of the president. thank you for the senate we got today in the senate. >> one senator criticized president for using that victim s as "props." the bostonerview and bombing have any -- >> i think it is a mistake to talk about in the wake of crisis or tragedy. i think gun control is legitimate issue for our country to debate and to decide where and how to fix the problem's of violence. i'm a parent. i have three boys. i hate to see him using people as props and criticizing tragedies.

when i see mothers and fathers testifying, i know they come in voluntarily and they want to be part of the debate. it still saddens me to see that. i think in some cases the president has used them as props. it disappoints me. the way i would look at it, i look at it in a sense of the tragedy of how to prevent the tragedy. that is why i come down on the of the proposals would have addressed the tragedy. >> that was senator rand paul speaking early today at eight grecian science monitor breakfast in washington. science monitor breakfast in washington. it is unbelievable to think that our senators can agree on anything and are no longer interested in doing the right

thing. >> i'm getting a little confused. make sure that you mute your tv when you call in. scott our republican line. hi. mute your set. >> ok. first, i would like to point out that today's background .hecks were in effect before most of them are legal ownership of guns. this is a way to harass gun owners. decidel harass me when i to buy a gun. you want to make it harder for me. that is what it is all about. tothe president will travel the england tomorrow, traveling to boston for a service advocate you don't -- at the cathedral of the holy cross.

we will have live coverage on c- span 3 and c-span.org. new jersey. democrat line. what did you think about the votes today in the senate? >> i thought they did the right thing. i wish they continue to do that. i would like to see them go after the criminals who use guns illegally and go back to capital punishment for anyone who uses guns illegally. that is a way to stop this gun violence. not by going after law-abiding citizens to own guns. we are taking the wrong move second infringing on the amendment. we need to go after criminals and not the legal people. >> we're looking at video of the senate. republican and democrat amendments going down in defeat.

diane feinstein's automatic weapons ban. and an amendment by senator burr that dealt with veterans with mental health. all of the amendments went down in defeat. they needed 60 votes to kerry. fort lauderdale. independence line. >> how are you? opposing anyy changes to the second amendment. it is a tragedy what happened. withas nothing to do targeting law-abiding citizens, like myself. the president is overreacting.

withhe method he is using those unfortunate families, shame on him. he has acted that way and many other ways. i do not support it. gun laws thatet need to be reinforced. look at what happened in boston. come on. >> thank you for your comments. a couple more minutes for your phone calls. also, your tweets. here is one from alan. he says -- here's a gun control idea. prosecute criminals who failed the background checks. another one from california. i just watched obama speech on gun control. it was incredibly legible to

watch. disappointed, if not surprised that a number of shameful and epic failure by the u.s. senate. another said, don't let the door hit you on the way out. republican. go ahead. -- in whatbelieve in they did. ,or gun control in this country i do not believe but the senators did. i believe the president of the united states has the power to override this bill and pass it. >> ohio. democrat line. you're on the air. go ahead. the whole gun control debate

you must understand that law enforcement officers have limited time training. 1.5 seconds to change in magazine. -- there are other ways to do this. how do you stop someone from being insane? people go and look at these heinous crimes. they get a slap on the wrist. years and years in prison on death row. if they looked at people control instead of gun control. of harry beatdeo at a briefing with his comments after the vote today -- harry

reid at a briefing with his today.s after the vote the senate will remain -- return tomorrow. senate coverage is on c-span 2. let's get through a couple of more calls. rhode island. tim, good evening. >> good evening. thank you for the chance to weigh in here. with what wentd down. having noticed that none of them ever mention the victims? never once did they mention the victims. they claim nothing can be done. what they're doing is -- lastly , most say that only criminals will have guns.

many law-abiding people are law- abiding up until the day that they commit a crime. -- more thing, gun control it works when it is used. what we need is gun control. -- lives matter more than guns. >> republican line. good evening. >> the measures were defeated today. drugsface it, illegal have been banned for years, but they are still a problem. ,un control would be a problem she wiped all of the guns off the face of the earth. out all ofou wiped the guns off the face of the

earth. >> one more. democrats line. .> yes i'm a firm democrat. i will say one thing. the democrats fighting -- a party will never learn. they have last two presidential elections because of policies. cannot win the next election, but other democrats will handle the problem. bill have to ease up on this gun -- they will have to ease up on this gun control. of gunthink the efforts control her to democrats? -- will hurt democrats? governor o'malley has made a gun owner the same as a criminal. you have to be a terminal to be fingerprinted.

>> and pass new gun control legislation and maryland, correct? just passed new gun control legislation in maryland, correct? >> that is right. when they give you fingerprinted in order to buy a gun, that is a million thing. -- humiliating. it will cost them their next election. like i said, i'm a democrat. but it is quite evident what will happen. >> thank you for all the calls. the conversation continues online and tomorrow morning 7 a.m. on "washington journal." the discussion in the senate today was gun control. many hearings looking at the president's proposed fiscal year 2014 budget. secretary kerry was on the hill. we will show you that later. also, gun and a polly anna --

janet napolitano talked about the budget. to department is proposing $9 billion in funding for 2014. here is the hearing from today. it is about two hours.

>> good morning. this hearing will come to order. thank you to secretary napolitano per joining us to discuss the president's budget request for fiscal year it 2014. before we start, i want to take a moment to have for my colleagues. we offer our condolences to at the boston marathon. we offer our thoughts and prayers. thank you. also, thank you to our first responders who selflessly rushed into the chaos and to care for those who had been injured and in some cases killed. the lump or spent -- the local

level to continue to investigate this tragedy. we are carefully monitoring the situation. we will continue to do so. in the end, we will get to the bottom of this. we will bring those responsible to justice. every american has a role in these efforts. if you see something, say something. see something, say something. we are reminded of those every time we go into a train station or airport. see something, say something. the help of hundreds of thousands of people who saw .omething and said something this is all hands on deck. this is a good way for everyone to find a solution. unfortunately, such tragic

events are a reminder of the important mission given to the department of homeland security. drafting a budget for this agency is complex. it is never easy. it is challenging in this fiscal environment. administrations 39 budget -- $39 million budget request. consistent with what congress appropriated in 2013 for the department before sequestration cuts were applied. the level of funding in this budget is lower than what congress appropriated in 2009. stepping back and thinking of the challenges that our country and this department has faced since 2009, times square bombing, hurricane sandy, the ever-changing and growing cyber threat, and of the boston attack, it is easy to become

concerned with this budget request. we are facing extremely difficult budgetary times. sacrifices must be made. they may not receive all of the funding. and agencies in government must share in the sacrifice to some extent required during this deficit. our secretary seems to have taken this message to heart. he is identified $1.3 billion in savings this year and more than $4 billion since 2009. he continues to move from a risk-based approach and it effort to save more money. i'm happy to see this budget proposes a much-needed increase for cybersecurity, which will help the department with cyber responsibilities. additional resources to get the job done, but is why bipartisan legislation to complement the present executive order will address the cyber threat as one

of our highest priorities. the continued commitment to securing our nation's borders while maintaining staffing patrols and adding more than 3400 customs and border protection officers to staff our ports of entry. can beritical resources done with modest fee increases. in arizona, secretary napolitano -- ienator mccain join me heard from local business leaders and front-line officers that they need more help at the ports of entry. i anticipate when a visit in fors april 30 and may 1, anyone interested, maybe we can spend a day and have going down to the border in texas.

i welcome you to join us. iselieve that something worth having, it is worth paying for. it's why i agree with the president's proposal to pay for ore boarder patrol officers. i look forward to reviewing the immigration bill introduced. this morning by senator mccain and schumer and others of our colleagues to make sure that the bill makes smart investments in boarder security and focuses on multipliers that can help our agents be more efficient. i was encouraged to see the increased in funding.

$105 million in conjunction with the money that the administration has requested will yield real savings to taxpayers by allowing us to stop leasing buildings all over the d.c. metro area, dozens of buildings, and help the department at the same time to improve management and increase moral. among them, the department of homeland security has and continues to have the lowest ranking moral. i think there is a reason for that. they are not a team, they are not a unit. we need to join together at a central location went we're going to try to do that. it is one we started, make huge investments in infrastructure we stop now we won't have much to connect the infrastructure too. with that said, i'm concerned this budget cuts key homeland

security. the cuts to management are short-sighted and undermine the progress the department has made. it's latest high-risk report that there has been progress in the department in integrating its comb poe innocents and strengthening its a did. e cannot lose this momentum. i'm also concerned by the proposed reduction in the customs enforcement known as i.c.e. as we work to reform our immigration laws, i think i.c.e. will play a critical role, we all do. i'm sure we'll visit this in the course of the hearing.

we need to do a better job to keep criminals off the streets and acknowledging that congress is partly to blame. to release llowed detainees because of budget con trapets. $7.4 her concern is the million request for i understand the importance of studying animal diseases, we all do, i hope we can avoid providing full nding $700 million in full funding. by building it is segments so we can do it over a two, three year period and not take away from other resources like i.c.e. and the coast guard and some of the mappingsment money we need for the department. final lye, i'm concerned by

proposed cuts that the homeland security provides to state and local governments. as we saw this week in state and local tomorrows are the ones that will be on the front lines responding to terrorist attack. we need to be risk based and we need to keep that in mind as we consider these grants to our stay and local colleagues. acknowledging our approach must be risk based i want to make sure the department can sustain the training and equipment. they need to respond effectively as they did in boston this week. sequestration, if implemented it will take another 5% off. these cuts will interpeer with the department's operation and management and its ability to

fulfill its mission. we need to find a better way to deal with our crisis. we need a comprehensive plan to reign in our debt and deficit. i favor a grand bargain, the man sitting to my right worked hard to craft one a couple of years ago. it raises revenues, closer to the levels of the last couple of years of the clinton's administration. number two, to enact entitlement reform that saves money. it saves these program for future generations. the third element is to look everywhere and ask how do we get a better result for less money in everything we do? it is time to make a grand bargain. let's turn to you for any comments. >> welcome. i appreciate your service. a lot to go through today.

i'm one of the few members of congress that has supported your idea of consolidating our programs and i commend you on that and you'll have my help in working towards that that we do a much better job in terms of putting metrics on the grants they are going are truly risk based. there's a lot of areas we're not effective in homeland security grants today. i would also comment -- if you read the constitution and you look at the power, a lot of what we've done isn't our role. it is the state and local also role. hat we've done is created some learned depend dendcy that the states rent and communities have to free themselves of. we're not going be the source of what they need. on top of that is the point is, we cannot spend enough money to

give us 100% security. the other thing we can't do is we can't get security to a level that we're going compromise our liberty. we have those who tensions going forward. i have to say i do trust you in terms of your vision in trying to do the best, to balance those tensions. i look forward to working with you so we move more of these dollars to risk based prervings rather than parochial base. most of the people here in this room know that when we have parochial is he risk based -- there is nothing wrong to fight for your state but the resources that you could have used aren't available.

the last pointedly make with this large budget and i would tell my colleague, sequestration is going stay. that level of funding is not going up. we are not going to go back on the pledge to the american people to trim down the size of the federal government. one of the positive things coming out of sequestration is innovation, judgment, and making hard decisions. my wish would be that the president would ask us for more flexibility. he has refused to do so. eventually, we're going to see that request and my hope is that the congressman is going to give you more flexible so you can make the judgments we're paying you to make. with all that comes the very thing that every other family in this country is doing. they are doing more with less instead of less with more. the number one challenge to your agency is to do more with less. it has to happen.

it's the only way we get out and create a future for the generations that follow us. i look forward to your testimony. i'm a supporter when it cups to reforming the things that you need to do your job and i'll will there to help you. thank you. >> thanks. before i introduce secretary apolitano, i want to thank the senators for being here. a couple of refuges from wisconsin are out in the audience today. say hello. i may interrupt this hearing for a minute or two once we have nine people here that give us us a quarter rum to consider the nomination to be director of office management and budget. secretary napolitano, thank you.

thank you for york work on the boston tragedy. i want to welcome you today. you've led the department since 2009 and starting your second term. we're glad you signed on for a second hitch. given the recent bombings in boston, we appreciate you more and we look forward to this time to talk about the department's 2014 budget request. i want to offer you any time at the beginning for any updates you want to provide for boston and you're recognized to do that and we look forward to your statement. >> thank you, chairman, members of the committee to discuss the president's 2014 budget qul for the department of homeland security. before i begin, as the chairman acknowledged i will like to say a few words about the attack in

boston. our thoughts and prayers remain with the family and the city of boston. d.h.s. is a big part of the community. hundreds of our men and women go to work at the city every day. they protect the traveling public, they secure critical infrastructure. they patrol ports and waterways, they help to investigate crimes and enforce federal laws and support our state and local partners. so the attack affected d.h.s. in many ways. i personally been speaking with the governor, the mayor, the police commissioner, members of the massachusetts delegation and others assuring them we will do all we can to bring who was responsible to justice. as president obama said the f.b.i. is investigating this as an act of terrorism and the full force of the federal government will support the response and

the federal investigation. there is no current evidence that the attack was part of a broader plot. but out of caution, we don't to keep in place enhanced security measures seen and unseen with coordination of state and local partners. we urge the american people to remain vigil legend and report any signs of suspicious activity to local law enforcement. we thank the people of boston for their response. we stand in solidarity with them and with everyone who has been making sure that the response, the recovery, and the investigation continue full force. beyond that, mr. chairman, i should not say anything in an unclassified setting except to reassure the committee that d.h.s. is put in full force into providing the f.b.i. with any and all assistance it requires

in addition doing a number of other things with the city of boston. >> thank you. >> as you know, this year marks the 10th anniversary of the d.h.s., the largest creation of federal government since the formation of the department of defense. we built a strengthened homeland security enterprise and a more secure america, better to face the challenges we face. the president'sle budget allows us to build on the progress by preserving core front line operations priorities. at the same time, given the current fiscal environment, this is the third straight year that our budget requests reflects a deduction from the previous year. our request is $800 million

below the f.y. 2013 enacted budget. our mission has nod changed and we continue to face evolving threats. we've become more strategic how we use these resources. this is coupled with a unprecedented with a fiscal discipline that has led to $4 billion in cost reductions over the past four years in a process we call efficiency review. before i get to the nuts and bolts of the budget i want to talk about sequestration. >> excuse me. can i ask you to pause a little bit longer. if you could pause for a moment dub. we want to get this quarum ieve we have a .nd if i can find -- here we go

i would like to take this opportunity to conduct a brief business meeting -- to consider an important mom police station before our committee. we will consider the nomination a native of virginia to be the rector of management and budget. i just want to thank you for coming. given her previous experience in the clinton administration and running through the nation's foundations makes her well qualified and i'm confident she will be an effect i lead earn i urming my colleagues to support her nomination. senator? >> i fully support this mom nakes and move that we go to the

vote. >> any other comments from our members? . l in favor say aye the ayes have it. thank you for joining us and the senate budget committee, on which some of you serve, will be voting later today. maybe we can have it before the next late this week or week. thank you, we look forward rest of your testimony. >> if i might, resume with a quick discussion of sequestration, which has significant effects for the department. more than $3 billion in cuts across d.h.s. in six months. the appropriation bill allowed d.h.s. to mitigate to some degree the impacts under the counting resolution. but the remaining cutting will

affect operations in the short and long material. these cuts will result in reduced operation capacity, breached staffing floors and economic impacts from the private sector. we will do everything we can to inmize the impacts on our corner mission and our employees consistent with the operational priorities and the 2014 budget that i would like to highlight. to prevent terrorism, the budget supports risk based initiatives enincluding travel programmings. as a rescult, we expect one in four travelers to receive some screening by the end of the year. the budget supports a administrationests to secure maritime cargo by strengthening efforts to intercept threats at the earlier point possible.

we continue support through training and information sharing with our partners. we also fund cutting-edge research to address evolving biological and nuclear threats, including the construction of he national biodefense facility. to secure our boarders, we ntinue the robust security efforts. it sustains deployment personnel along our borders as well as utilization of proven surveillance technology along the highest traffic areas across the southwest border. reducing wait times at the ports of entry the budget requests 35rks00 port officers.

to scurel maritime borders the budget invests in coast guard assets, including the seven national security cutter and fast response cutters. the bum continues the department's focus on smart enforcement of our country's immigration laws. it supports the administration's effort to focus the enforcement system on safety threats and the integrity of the immigration system through childhood arrivals and greater use of rosecutor yull discretion. we support more cost effective initiatives of secure communities. e budget invests in monitory compliance to work sight related laws.

while continuing to support alternatives to the tension, detention reform and immigrant immigration efforts. comprehensive immigration reform will help us build on these efforts and strengthen boarder security by enabling d.h.s. while focusing on criminals, human smallingers and those who impose threats. human smugglers and those who impose threats. this also works on cyber security and financial systems and defend against cyber threats to private sector federal systems, the nation at critical infrastructure and our economy. it supports the president's executive order to improve on the cyber security and critical

infrastructure security and resilience. finally, to ensure continued resilience to disasters, the president's budget focuses on emergency management. it includes resources for the disaster relief fund for declared disasters or emergencies. the administration is proposing the consolidation of 18 grant programs into one national program to create a robust national response capacity while reducing administrative overhead. this competitive, risk based program will use a comprehensive process to identify and deploy capabilities, put funding together quickly and require grantees to report on their

progress. it is this kind of funding that has enhanced capabilities in cities like boston. since 2002, the boston urban area has received $300 million in federal grant funding, which is used to equip tactical teams. within the last year, the metro boston homeland security region used funding to provide training to improve their speed and efincy. also grants have supported integration with respect to joint exercises and training. fema has supported 12 comp are in e first o -- exercises boston. fema also has provided more than

5,500 boston area responders with training. homeland security grants provides training along law enforcement and fire service that are part of the massachusetts joint hazards assessment teams. these investments have proven their value time and again and it greatly aided in the incident two days ago. the proposal reflects this administration's strong commitment to protecting the homeland and the american people through the effective use of d.h.s. resources. thank you for the opportunity to testify and i look forward to your questions. >> i appreciate your presence today and your presentation. eight of our colleagues, four democrats and four republicans

introduced exrive legislation. this committee has a responsible, unique in the senate, to try to asks and answer the question, are our boarders more secure? for those who have been on the boarders to go this year and last year and in the years past, i believe they are significantly more secure. i like to say everything i do i can do better. same is true of all of us. can we make them more secure? yes, we can. can we do it in the budget constraints? yes, we can. what are the force multipliers to increase the effectiveness of our security. you will have to join me for a day in the state, that you have led all those days governor, and senator mccain a day earlier. one things that i learned is

there are a number of investments we can make and i would say they are technology based. on any given day we have two aircrafts flying and five days we have drones in the air for 16 hours. that means there are two days of the week they are not in operation and about eight hours of every day they are not in operation. physical the wind is greater than 18 knots they can't fly. radar system to detect people moving from high altitudes, in bad weather, crossing the border, attempting to cross the border. it is a remarkable tool to use. we have one system, a borrowed system from a company, not from the department of defense.

one of the things i would hope is we can find a way -- our friends -- our colleagues who into introduce an immigration reform bill proposals some security measures along the border. we want to look closely to see how many measures we can do, afford, and how we might invest that money in technology that will enable our ground forces to be more effective. cost s an airplane have effective and could be helpful and they can nigh when the winds are greater than 15 knots. we have a recommendation in the -- they are ve lighter than air that can carry

a surveillance pod and can be there for a day, a week, long periods of time and transmit information back to the forces on the ground to tell us about movement crossing the border. there are land-based radar systems that are already deployed in part of the border. we have parts in western arizona kinds of investments would make more sense. those are the kinds of things we want to do more of. in the president's budget there is language to move the righter than air systems out of the department of defense and into the homeland security and that is good but but there's more we can do as well. do you want to comment on anything of that, anything that is more necessary, more helpful than others?

>> i think if you're talking about a force multiplier to manpower at the border, which is at record levels and the budget sustained that. technology is the key. you have to yules different technologies in different parts of the border because the terrain is so different, the circumstances is different. san diego is very different than the south rio grande valley. so what with are we have done is take the nine border patrol sectors along the southwest border and have constructed and this using the border patrol experts themselves, they know best what they need so develop nine different technology plans that particular to each area of the border. we're moving to match our

technology requests to that of what we need. we have stopped building a one-size fits all integrated towers project along the entire border. we're going to use that in arizona but not along the entire expanse of the border. it turned out to be very expensive and not operational in some of the physical circumstances that we have. in exchange, moved to an off the shelf technologies, technologies that may have been used in theeteerns things. so technology is a forced multiplier. moving to immigration reform. the two main drivers are work and the other is we made it so difficult to immigrate legally -- use of our visa system that becomes an incentive to

join your family across the border and the like. if we deal with the visa system then we can more carefully focus r resources at the border of the human smugglers and the like on who we would like to focus our resources on. >> thank you very much. m impressed the management brought together, 22 or so kind of mushed together into a department of homeland security but they are all over the place. it is not impossible but differently to operate as team when you're scattered to the winds. he effort launched in previous administrations to consolidate those areas into washington, d.c. and it has great potential.

to lked -- i had a chance visit the site and try to understand the rationale and i think it makes sense. we spend huge amounts of money leasing building and we would be better off letting the government buy a building. physical you want to buy a building for 50 years you have to -- this saves money and same time control son dates. talk to us about why this is impoortant for management services and moralty. talk to us how this would help on the management side. >> i think, first of all, the campus would be the first federal investment of its kind and could be an economic development opportunity in that area much as the pentagon was

years ago. s you know, we're in over 50 facilities in the national cancel region. if i want to have a meeting i have to bring the secret sfrfs owntown and a other managers from over there. it is better to have an integrated approach that will the department was created for. i'm not one to come in and say we need a building given the budget constraints. it has already started. the investment -- some of the fixed costs have been incurred. the coast guard is moving and the budget supports their move before thanksgiving. i think it is appropriate and in the long term more coast effective to have a real headquarters. >> we believe there is a great

opportunity for this full committee to work closely with j.a.o. and use them as a tool to get better results with less money. we're impressed when your deputy secretary was here a couple of weeks ago. she's leaving, i understand. we'll miss her she's been a great public servant. great improvements have been made in terms of three secretaries now and we want to make sure that continues. we'll work with you on that end. >> i sent you a letter yesterday on drones. i think you will receive it in term of your privacy situation and that has not addressed on what the law will require. i would like your commitment that you will get back to me on that? >> sure. absolutely. >> let's talk a fema grants. 1 billion know that $

is needed not $500 million or $2 billion. >> first of all, you ask. second you survey. you compare and identify gaps. what we would like to move to senator, is a system where not every location has 100% of everything. that we have a more regional approach where certain capabilities are concerned. ot everyone needs a hazmat team, not everyone needs search and rescue if they are in the same area and easily get to a site should there be an event. we look at all sorts of things in determining what is the appropriate level. >> how did you come up with $1 billion? >> going through what i said. looking at the gaps are and what gap. ld take to fill that for example, you know you need a

certain number of personal who have gone through certain number of trainings on incident response. you cost out how much does that training cost per individual and what period of time could that cost be incurred. that is the nuts and bolts that goes into a number. it is inductive not deductive. you start start with a billion and how do i fill it up. >> you have $5.2 billion in unspent grant money. how much is obligated? plus.ould say 80% correct me if i'm wrong. >> so you have $1 billion that is unobligated and we're asking for an increase of $1 billion. when you talk to us this last year one of the things you noted was that you described the

purpose of the getting the , job was stimulus creation, and economic growth. shouldn't we make the choice on where is the greatest risk? where is our greatest weakness? shouldn't we spend the money there regardless of job creation and stimulus? >> one of our thoughts on putting time limits on the grant daw down if these were needed for emergency response, homeland security, they ought to go out quicker rather than later. some of the grants do take more time. we've been supporting new york ty in the development of a computer system, which interlinked with cameras. it allows it to have greater surveillance over certain areas

of the cities and the bridges. turns out it takes longer than two years to develop such a program. what we recommend is we put time limits on the grant daw downs, subject to a waiver in appropriate circumstances. >> ok. last year you required states to complete their own threat and hazard and identification of risk assessments as part of the grant process. how good are they? what are you doing to follow up on the accuracy of those? my further question, my big criticism of the fema grants and the grants coming out or your department we're not measuring a metric at the end to see if we're accomplished what we set out to accomplish. what are you going to institute so the american taxpayer knows that a grant goes out of fema or homeland security it accomplished something that

decreased risk or increased preparedness? right now you don't know the answer to nap in a general way, you can assess, here's the quality of what we got out of the grant money we have. what are you doing to change that? >> right, we've been really changing grant guidance yeeverpb sight over the past years. and oversite over the past years. a lot of these programs were formula grants, based on population and what have you. it is now time, we're at the level where we should say look, these should be risk based. we should identify what the risks are. measure the benefits we get out of the risks, do everything we can to get the money out as rapidly as possible, well spent as possible.

but the way it is now, senator, we've got grant programs from all over the place and it does limit our ability to really make those tough judgments. >> so when you -- this proposal to consolidate these, tell me about the efficiencies and the accuracy as well as the performance that you hope to achieve by consolidating these grant programs. >> i think, first of all, the threat assessment and the ifing become ascii document. i think they are varying of quality as they have come in. we will work with the states that we think need help to increase their capacity. as we move through this process, i think what you will see is administrative savings, first of all, states don't have to pay grant writers and grant

administrators. we can have one more integrated d unified set of reviewers enauditors. any time you say we're going to take 18 programs and meld them into one, i think you will get a more unified proper on how the grant program will be given and how it will be reviewed and that's what we're seeking to do. >> would you agree with me that he per capita damage unit be modified in terms of fema grants? what qualifies? it is a real disadvantage for the large states who have a significant event and it is a real advantage for the small states that have the same amount of damage. one qualifies for fema grants and the other one does not qualify at palm would you commit to work with us through your

fema director where we can build a consensus in congress how do we measure this better? oklahoma had 22 fema grants. i'm glaflte the government is helping oklahoma out. we were not overwhelmed we could have worked with it. states who have more budget troubles than we are got no help. i would like a commitment that you would help us figure this out. whern there to help a problem, that we hope those that have the biggest problems not the ones that qualify the easiests for the grants. >> i will pledge that. a great example on how the per capita issue works and strange and unfathomable ways. we had flooding on the red

river. one side was north dakota and one was minnesota. north dakota got grant flooding and minnesota did not. same flood. >> i guess i'm over time. . we'll come back for a second round. >> in order of arrivals, questions next will be senator johnson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you were talk agent surpluses. you were talking about the revenue side of the equation. one reason we had a budget surplus was that government spending was a little over 18%. we are over 22% now and we're on a trajectory to hit 35%. it was the level of spending from my standpoint to that balances budgets. i want to get that on the

record. thank you for appearing here and thanks for you service. i don't envy your task. you have a big job and we're all rooting for you. i want to pick up on the consolidation of the grant programs. can you speak to me the type of pressure you feel. do you find it is a real problem? >> senator, i try -- i do not involve myself in the direct grant decisions. so that pressure gets a little diminished. but the real problem is these grants, many came out of the 9/11 act were written at an earlier stage of our early understanding of homeland security and the capacity we had around the country. our understanding and capacity is different 10 years later and it is time to reform the grant programs to match that. >> so from your standpoint in

terms of managing the budget, you don't feel that is a huge problem? you feel that your allocation of funds is aproprityitly towards risk assessment? >> no, i did not say that. i don't think we have the flexibility to incooperate risk based analysis into our programs. what we need to do is be evaluating where our needs are and how do we fill the needs. >> i saw the $2.1 billion, is that for fema? > fema is 98% of our grant program. >> how much do you think is misallocated based on interest? you have a baseball park -- >> that is a have you stopped

beating your wife yet question. we've been doing our level best within the requirements that we ave to be as rigorous on our grant guidance and our grant awards. >> let me turn to the question i'm getting all the time. let's lay the rumors to rest. we hear reports that d.h.s. is buying $1.6 rounds of ammunition. and it cted your office is 650 million rounds over the next five years. can you speak to that because had a lot of people are concerned of >> it we are in no way buying up for any purpose. we have strategic contracting and we can purchase up to at a certain per unit cost. we use about 150 million units

per year. we train a lot of state and locals. basis. 80% in a per unit it is smart contracting and nothing more. >> can you break that down, how many people are trained, how many practice rounds are fired? 65yeah, c.d.p. probably uses million there. secret service, many of our service requires qualifying multiple times a year. we can give you the actual inventory we know where the rounds are used. >> i just want you to dispel the rumors. >> if i can interrupt. we're going to have all of that available for the members so they can answer that. >> that's great. >> just to be as firm as i can be, the rumors are

unsubstantiated and without her merit. >> thank you. you mention secret service. i have to admit, i was surprised during the may 2012 hearing in terms of the investigation there. we have repeatedly requested to see the secret service investigation report. are you satisfied on the progress made in the investigation? >> i am satisfied with the progress made. think some of your question, my -- request is that you have been wanting to look at documents but we can't provide some of those statements. if i'm wrong let me know. >> let me say i'm not satisfied with the progress. i certainly have more questions that have not been answered and it's a year later. i would like your commitment to

work with our office to get those questions answered. i think it is important for the secret service to have full credibility moving forward. >> yeah, the secret service is an incredible department and does incredible things. they have their own interest in making sure their reputation and professionalism is not tainted by this. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your service we appreciate how differently it is at this time. i wanted to ask about the state fusion centers, the national network of fusion centers. can you tell me in your view, how those fusion centers a the state level are working? i also i'm new to this

committee. i understand you have what is called a homeland security information network. do those interact with each other? what would you say are the strengths and weaknesses of the fusion centers and how is the information sharing at a state level thinking of a post 9/11 world and the federal level? then you think of an event like boston and all the various agencies involved. >> the concept behind the fusion centers is one of our jobs is to get information intelligence ainto the hands of the first responders and law enforcement agents who need it and get that information back. >> but it would conclude terrorism related -- >> that is our first priority. for example, we use them during

years ago. ouple of >> it was just beginning. >> many are new but some have been in existence for several years now. the boston one is a very strong one. they have been the center of how information from us and the f.b.i. operates has been -- we make sure we get it to the locals who need it and make sure we get information back. they have been going full force since the bombs two days ago. you can't share -- you have 3,000 plus local law enforcement across the country. being able to share the kind of information we want to be able to share, that many departments, difficult and probably nonproductive. the idea was let's create some sion centers, let's expand

their air beyond terrorism but also other crimes and hazards that might ore cure and use them has a hub for sharing. >> how are they working? >> we've been assessing them all. there are 70, all but two are on the network, which is a classified network. really ay that 1/3 is good, 1/3 is average and we'll be working with them. then 1/3 is new or needs some real work. long term perspective on the info sharing side of the house, to me building up that network of fusion centers will continue to be key. >> in march, former inspector general testified before this committee that the department faced ongoing challenges in

effectively sharing counter terrorism information. one of the issues is the ability to complete the implementation of the homeland security information network. what is the status of that? i understand as you just described that these fusion centers are part of that network but also in the completion of the network so we have information sharing, where are we with that? what needs to be done? >> i think great progress has been made. s i mentioned, 68 of the 70 of the fusion centers are on the network. it's just a much more robust and viable network than it was when he testified. >> that's very good news. also thinking about, as we move forward on the information sharing front, what type of --

when you say 1/are just getting up or ineffective, how do you on the department level given that much of this is driven at the state level what gets inputted into the system? how do you plan to make sure those get up to par? >> we're going to work directly with them. are ve some staff that really just focused on the fusion centers. the other thing we're doing is putting our own analysts in the fusion centers to help identify the kind of information we need, the suspicious activity reports for example. e so called sar and what constitutes a sar and what gets transmitted. my hope over the next months and ouple of years we will see a

rapid saturation of the network. >> thank you very much. let me add my support about consolidating grants. i appreciate that you're doing that and to make sure that the grants really are meeting our current needs. having seen -- when i was at the state level the initial grants that came out, it struck me as very scattered. giving communities certain capacities that i could want understand -- couldn't understand how it fit in the bigger picture. i would love to help you with that effort and appreciate you are undertaking that. thank you for being here today. >> thank you. >> thank you. thank you very much for being here and for your service. i wanted to add my words to those of the chairman about the

tragedy in boston, obviously, are thoughts and our hearts are with the families. particularly, with the first responders both people who just, you know, not wearing a uniform ran to help theens wearing uniforms who ran to help. many of those first responders lie within the homeland security department home and i hope you our share with your agents respect and gratefulness for their work. i wanted to start with just a specific on the line of questioning that you just had on fusion centers. specifically, budget wise the federal assistant, two fusion centers mostly comes in the form of grants instead of directly

funding. i want to hear your thoughts on the funding and the level of funding. should they be granlt funded or direct funded in your opinion? what should we be looking at in terms of the policy of that funding mechanism? > you're right, senator. historically they have been fema grants to the state and they can use it however they want. when it started, those fema to tate grants were pretty wide open. we have been putting more and more guidance into those grants. one of the things about risk base it is also competitive. one of the things about competitive is one of the things grantees is, are the

really looking at our guidance and making a fair analysis. we have specified fusion centers as one of the priorities in the guidance. we have not recommended a direct fusion center grant. >> ok. i understand that the budget numbers for the office of intelligence and analysis are classified. however, to the degree that you can in this forum please talk about how much of a role i.n.a. plays in working with state and local officials, in particular given the tragedies of this week to state and local tomorrows to prepare for and protect the public at major public events? >> i think one of the major roles and i speak as a former

state trorne general is to translate -- attorney general is to translate intel into a form that state and locals can use. what are the indicators and behaviors we're watching for? what is the most up-to-date information that can be shared in an investigation? what should they be doing in the course of an investigation if we're not able to totally close off the possibility that there are is more widespread plot? ose concrete things that require, i think, an active interpretation from the intel world to the state and local world. that's where we focus a lot of our efforts. we work with the f.b.i. on this. so far example, we've been putting out to state and locals

what we called a joint intel bulletin. we put out the first one yesterday morning to law enforcement that needed to see it that, obviously, included more detail on what was being made public. that sort of thing. there's been updates in that in the last 30 hours. >> thank you. i understand that there will be a $10 million cut to the border security infrastructure and technology account affecting the security of the northern border. i wonder if you can explain this t and how it will impact northern border security or how you will adapt to make sure it is not impaired? >> the northern border represents a different set of responsibilities and

opportunities than the southwest border. we're fully cognizant of that. the increase in port officers and when guy to the northern border that is the number one thing i hear the need to have more lanes staffed because of the amount of commerce that goes back and forth. i hope we don't see >> since you mentioned or to cure the, dashboard security, there is fairly extensive dialogue of the preparedness grant consolidation. how do you think that will impact port security? >> i think or to security is one of the things that goes into securityoard -- port is one of those things.

the bombing occurred in boston. have charles river. sure thatot to make what you are looking at is two mmbs and not am am by type - umbai type of attack. we were working with the coast guard to increase security in the harbor and the charles river to satisfy ourselves that there was nothing eminent there. we maintained an increased level of security. andneed to have personnel equipment and the personal have to be trained and supervised and exercised. ports have been used internationally as a place where attacks have occurred. when you look competitive we, p orts have to be given -- competitively, ports of to be given consideration. >> thank you. >> thank you for the briefing.

for the incredible work you are doing in boston. there is a lot of good people on the ground and here and around the country. thank you for your efforts. there are unique roles that work with your agency. the subcommittee on emergency management. we will talk a lot more later on fema. one of the things that comes up a lot is a state grant issue. the budget proposal, there are some ideas on statutory changes that might be needed. look for a june or july hearing for discussion. we will save that for then. also, osha subcommittee. the coast guard and issues, a lot of issues that touch it. probably more than you wanted. port of lasker interest.

-- alaska interest. want to begin with the overall of fema and then i will move on. is a disaster that occurs, a be a small or large disaster, one of the biggest issues is how to information out to the public? as a former mayor, we are the front lines for that. do you think the system you have now has improved significantly? do you think there are other things we can do to help make that first 24ng hours of communication seems to be the most critical prior and as it is occurring. is there roadblocks still out there causing that communication not to be fully developed? where are you at today compared to five or six years ago? >> with respect to the legislative language that should go along with the grant consolidation, we will be

prepared to submit appropriate legislative language for your consideration. >> fantastic. this involves the process for things to get done. >> i'm on both. >> all right. with respect to communication, a you speaking, senator, between us and people at the city level? >> public. >> i think it is much better. i think we have increasingly used social media. we see their information through those many vehicles. and puted -- tweet stuff online. we do a lot of things to make information generally available. lessons learned, the initial hours after disasters there is often a lot of confucian --

confusion and misinformation. we are seeing how quickly we can identify what we know and explain what we don't know. of course, we recognize the public often has, where do i go? how do i find my kids? had i get shelter and food? >> exactly. -- how do i get shelter and food? >> exactly. >> improving process, still more work to be done, but still more work to be done. >> i think we can always improve. >> with regards to the coast guard budget, 12 or 13% reduction. you probably know where i'm going. at thecerned when i look increased activity. there is little pause this year

because oil and gas exploration issues. it'll be pretty robust out there. my concern is that if you reduce a budget and i know we are in this tight budget situation, i recognize that, how do you see that impacting not only thepen in future, but this year. all the things that are critical. and the fishing issue in alaska is huge. we were out there, we saw a new incredible facility that has done great work on fishing. how do you see that impacting the efforts and the oil and gas industry in making sure we have good coverage? >> i think what we will see is a continuance of the sequester and operations of the coast guard.

that has been and some areas 20%-25% reduction in daily operations. i think that will continue. the continuedand, work on the national security so that wesigned have a mobile platform to be up in northern alaska during the drilling season as opposed to building a permanent coast guard station at really would not be used half of the year. the nfc has a capability -- >> they are like a whole town. >> we can operate search-and- rescue from the nfc, etc.. , butare large investments they have a much greater number of uses and other types. .> my time is limited

it seemed like last year administration moved over to on icebreakers. , 120nk the five-year plan million or so for construction. this year, it has gone back quite a bit. that needs the one to get renovated get renovated. on where we sense see the future as. especially with the china building icebreakers left and right. they have divided it up by population. thought onr icebreakers and what we see in the future? >> the budget does continue work .n a number of oler icebreakers

it is a small down payment. that quite frankly is looking at what could be done this year and how it fits with the overall budget. not only the close card, but the department at large. i agree with you. very strongeeds a arctic position an arctic policy. we are very heavily engaged with the white house on the development of that plan. >> very good. thank you per your system money. for to the legislation in regards to the grants. -- thank you for your testimony. and also thank you for the legislation in regards to the grants. we will have a conversation on that. thank you, mr. chairman. madame secretary, thank you for coming to the committee today. are you in favor of having our

pilots armed? and think properly trained if they have gone through the rogan, arming can be appropriate. >> in your budget, the administration's budget, i think that has been done a couple of times. we have had to add it in a couple of times. >> i will tell you the reason why we zeroed it at. a lot of the changes in the budget, we are removing the risk based. that program is not risk base. it means that you happen to have a eyelet number that went through training or not. andning on air carriers keys they want their pilots covered. -- in case they want their pilots covered. i don't think i can

overemphasize the importance of deterrence. part of this deterrence is not knowing who is armed and who is not armed. that is why we do not want registries published of who has guns and who doesn't. the terrorists do not know which percent. i would rather 100% are armed. during out of funding shows a lack of commitment to the idea of self-defense. this is a huge signal to terrorists around the world if we will not harm our pilots. i think we have one training facility in new mexico where the pilots are trained. , the pilots complained about the costs and expenses and the time away. we have got training facilities for police man in every state. i do not see any reason we could not cooperate and make it a lot cheaper. i am for saving money. i do not mind saving money. we have all kinds of costs and training facilities for police officers and state troopers. it

should not be done in one place. let them learn how to do it and have it done. there's no reason why you can't have local training. i would also take military officers who have had extensive training and i would exempt them from half of the program so they can save time and expenses on getting it done. i think idea of deterrence cannot be measured. you can't measure how important it is to have deterrence. i think a lot of us would argue that having pilots armed is a great deal of deterrence. we should not give any indication to terrorist that we are not series of having our pilots armed. >> thank you. >> thank you, madam secretary. i appreciate the great work your people are doing come especially in light of the tragedy in boston.

youm secretary, i'm sure heard that senator schumer and i met with the president yesterday. we briefed him on our immigration reform proposal. he expressed his trunk support -- he expressed his strong support. do you share that view? >> i have not read all of the pages in detail, but i think it embraces the principal the president has enunciated. it is very comprehensive in its approach. very appreciative of the work that you have done on this. much.nk you very that means that you support the president's position that we should have a trigger on border security. >> it depends on what the trigger is for. if i understand the way that the bill is written, that looks ine a very reasonable

approach to border security. >> one of the problems we have is that you abandoned the metric of operation control and have not given us a border security index. let me quote from your hometown newspaper. there was an editorial. wantssident obama immigration reform, he needs to put pressure on janet a. napolitano. have ancy has failed to simple standard for measuring border security, a project the department of homeland security started in 2010, but apparently has not worked up much of a sweat. unfortunately, one of your people testify to the house, said that mr. burke rc -- he -- that it will be a tool

for the measurement you are suggesting. there was a very scathing report about the failure of establishing metrics. do you intend to come forth in a farmer transparent manner -- far more unsparing manner with a border security index? manner with at border index? >> there are so many ways to measure the border. the definition did not encompass all of the ways you could look at the border. -- is a let's look at border a safe and secure area? it, thatou got into is a much more difficult question to answer than it is to ask.

there are a whole host of statistics. a whole host of statistics on a baseball player. you have to look at the picture and see what that trend lines are and the like. we have to have those items to every committee that has requested them. we intend to work on an overall border condition index. the notion that some magic number out there that answers the question, i wish i could tell you there is. that we have not found it. >> i know that there are ways of determining security anywhere in the world and in the united states of america. whether it be on apprehensions, which are up 13%, which kind of contradicts the arguments that the border is much more secure when you are talking for years about how apprehensions are down as a measure of that.

, it is beyondve anyone's belief that has worked on this issue that you cannot come up with a measurement of the security of our borders. if you cannot do that, then we will in legislation. we will. for you to assert that somehow we cannot give the american people an accurate depiction of the border security were drug dealers are moving to it arizona putting people in unspeakable conditions, and we do not have a measurement as to on one of theng fundamental requirements of any nation and that is border security, is frankly beyond me. , if you have a magic definition, i would be happy to look at it. >> the government accountability has a number of

metrics that could be of use. why do not consult them? they would know even if you do not know. >> the g.i. joe, one of their ratios is something we have a lot of problem with. >> it sure is better than nothing. we do not have a measure of border security. period. your spokes -- your spokesperson said that would not become any time soon. >> you have many definitions. we have every statistic in the world and you have your own observations. what i have appreciated during this debate as you have been working on reform is your going down to the border. you know from your own personal observations that it is different now than it was five years ago or 10 years ago. we need to sustain those efforts. we need to be able to put multipliers down there.

a lot of technology. we need a national e-verify type program, which is the main driver of you legal immigration. we need the ability to clean up -- main driver of the legal system. -- main driver of legal immigration. if i could give you a magic i'm not sure that would be fair or accurate. it would not reflect all of the factors that need to be taken into consideration. that we canion is determine whether our border is secure or not using information come including the new radar. if you do not give it to us, we will decide ourselves.

we will have a measurement of the border security. we owe that to the people of this country. or made thearge decision to release 3000 people who were detainees? who made the decision? >> 3000? >> i believe it was some 3000 who were released. i forgot what it was. >> i think i know what you are referring to. this was a decision made within ice. we were under the continuing resolution with no prospect of a budget and sequestration to see what the detainees to be put in detention as a way to control costs. i and nine at 11 have made requests for those detainees that were released and whether

they had any criminal activity have madeenator levin the quest for those detainees that were released and whether they had any criminal activity. can we expect that information? >> let me follow up and see where that is. >> we wrote to you in march. senator levin i wrote you a couple of weeks ago. i hope we can get that information. the american people deserve it. i look forward to working with you as we move forward with comprehensive immigration reform. , hope you understand that 1986 i guess i'm the only one here that voted, we give amnesty to 3 million people with the promise that never again would we have to worry about people coming

into our country illegally because we were going to secure our borders and take the necessary steps. now we have 11 million people. we open to the people of this country that there will not be a third wave 10 or 15 years from now of a ring good number of people have come to this country illegally. all of us are advocates of immigration, but we believe it should be a fair system. it -- to have people living in the shadows and being brought to this country that we must address this issue. the american people have to be sure there'll not be a third wave. you can be very helpful to us including into law the necessary ,easures, including e-verify that would prevent not only the demand, but the supply. thank you. >> if i might, one frank comment.

one of the things that i noted in the draft legislation is that it has a cut off date. individuals who come after the cut off date are not eligible and would not be eligible for the pathway. this is a cursory reading of the bill. it is important to get that information out. one of the things that happened after 1986 was that it was a surge. we do not want that to happen again. exactlyto prevent it is as the proposal indicates. >> in the 13% increase we have seen this year, would you agree with that? -- theink the economy real surge is in the southern rio grande valley. it is other than mexican immigrants. we are moving manpower and equipment down there. they will deal at that.

i think we will be able to report significant progress shortly. >> thank you. i apologize for over speaking my time. >> you have earned that right. senator mccaskill. .> thank you, mr. chairman i want to commend the rapid response of so many first responders and law enforcement in boston. it was clearly benefited by investments we have made in the federal government and investments we have embraced on this committee. nine -- committee. kudos for that. i'm a former prosecutor. i have got a question that is -- i cannot keep it from coming out. based on the evidence at this point, is there any difference between sandy hook and boston

other than the choice of weapon? , from a -- in terms of intent or death and instruction and injury, no. methodology, yes. we do not know the motivation behind boston. we do not know whether it was domestic or international. >> or if it was identical to the motivation and sandy hook. >> we do not know the answer to the question. it is impossible for me to sit at the table today and say that they are identical except in affect and impact. >> as i look at the evidence available, you have massive destruction and violence and

slaughter of innocents. in neither case do we know the motive. to irony is we are quick .all boston terror by are we not calling the man with the high-capacity assault and high-capacity magazine -- why are we not calling him a terrorist? >> i do not know the answer to that question. >> i think it is important that we talk about that in government. learn thethat we motive of both. in might be the motive is political or it wasn't. it might do that they are both suffering from severe mental capacity that cause them to want to slaughter a bunch of innocent people. with either it

prosecutor and the evidence that is available right now, i find it troubling that one is characterized in a way that causes so much more fear and destruction in everyone's daily lives than the other one. parents that are afraid to send their first graders to school everyday. they are. when and how we characterize an act, a criminal act, an act of terror, when there is not evidence yet in support of that characterization until we know what the motive is. it is troubling to me. , maybe they of them have identical motives. one shows a military-style weapon and the other one chose to make a homemade bomb.

spent a huge amount of money on [indiscernible] i know this is a headache. we have spent almost half $1 billion on it. we have another contract up for infrastructure, but we cannot talk to each other. we have and it report that says that it has not gone well. we have wasted a lot of money. can you give me any hope on that front? >> yes. theink the hope stems from congress's decision to set aside a broadband spec them for public safety. and the creation of the board and the way it has been funded. my interactions with the board which also include private

sector representatives suggest to me that we now have the money and the decision making create a to finally more universal answer to this problem. there is more than people allow. sometimes the question is, who ands to be interoperable with whom? everyone needs to be universally interoperable. everyone at a certain rank needs to be interoperable with others at a certain rank and so forth. the definition issues are important in terms of the universe you're trying to couple. briefly tocan get you on this. in my judgment, having dealt with this issue for far too long and having doubled that as

a governor and as a state attorney general and being frustrated at what was going on , that is hope for the future. >> i would love to get that briefing. i want to emphasize the r&d's policy guidance. departmentere is no policy defining r&d. you do not know what your total investment is in r&d. -- ability to oversee it. there is money that goes back and forth from various parts of your budget in this rubric of rnd. to you taking some steps address these concerns about getting a handle on duplicate -- r&d andntext contracts?

>> we have been involved in a very extensive effort led by i fire -- our science and technology director and acquisition review board to do a review of all the r&d projects to identify any unnecessary redundancies, make sure we have quality control and that we have an acquisition land that has resulted from r&d. so the answer is that is an area to getwe have made improvements over the last year. >> the report was issued last week. >> they typically are not current on their research. >> it is the 2013 and will report. let's make sure we figure out where we are. i would love to get a brief from that director about where the r&d is going.

i see this all over government. we are doing r&d, defense and homeland security at three or four different universities and they are doing the exact same r&d. i want to make sure that is not occurring. thank you very much. let's -- i havetor coburn and some additional questions. we appreciate you sticking with us a little while longer. i want to go back to a point raised by senator mccain. the 3000 about detainees released from the detention center. that concerns a lot of us. -- some of those fleas were felons. -- of those released were felon s.

released frequently from prison and our state that should not have been released. name.e of them have the rasame other twice, the wrong robert smith is released. stuff happens like that. i would urge you and folks to be careful going forward to make there are any detainees released, my hope that will not happen -- my hope is that will not happen. following up on his comments, actually i want to steal a page and take a moment to thank senator coburn and his staff an long with psi for their work in

looking at fusion centers. at the cable talk about this more at length. abouthink he will talk this more at length. some of them are really good, some are pretty good, some ofn't very good and some are very little value. as we work to talk about resources in place where they will provide the best bang for our buck, what are we doing to make sure the ones that are of little value, what are we doing to make sure they step up their game? i will use an example. awas a naval flight officer commander of an aircraft that still flies.

many patrol squadrons across the world. our job was to do maritime surveillance. we tracked -- huinunt for red october, we did a lot of those missions. we had some squadrons to hyundai hard times yelling the name -- squadrons that had a hard time submarine.ing we created rainintraining teamso uadrons that were marginal performers an d crews most help.ded the

ofething like that migjht bht e value. i would just like to lay that on the table. ruwant to turn to cuyyber secru urity. the senate is coming together to work more cohesively. immigration reform is one example. agreeing on the continuing resolution for the balance of the fiscal year. ouraged we areurag seeing coehesion around congress and our stakeholders. i have a question about budget increases.

to the private sector and other federal agencies. could you describe how those increases for cybersecurity are designed to help our partners with critical infrastructure and other federal agencies that have experienced cyber attacks? obviously cyber is the fastest growing area of the department. in part because that is where we have seen the most activity over the last few years. the president budget does a couple of things. it increases funding for our ability to secure the civilian of the networks there, including with continuous diagnostics and monitoring. it increases funding for the search, a response team that works with the private sector in response to incidents.

sometimes they work out of the 24/7 watch center here. funding for the industrial control system in particular because the attacks on control systems are of -- are of increasing concern. they go through all of the responsibilities we have within and theral government private sector provides additional needed funding. >> thank you. the president recently issued his executive order to strengthen our critical infrastructure. whoever figures out the idea about the responsibility for the outrage to key stakeholders and asking for their involvement in deciding what best practices should be, that was a good move.

i'm hearing very positive comments from the business community and private owners of the critical infrastructure on that. could you describe how the budget request would be used to implement the president's executive order? >> the eo and the budget are in together. they were prepared almost at the same time. numberdiretcts us to do a of things with the private sector and so we are given the resources with which to do that and meet the time oelines. >> i want to come back to the issue of fusion centers. i mentioned in the navy where we had tactical training teams to work with the marginally performing squadrons, and the regulatory world, i'd share a

subcommittee that has over the nuclear regulatory commission. we have about 100 nuclear power plants. they have a system, i think we call them red teams, who test the securituy. y. it's pretty realistic. game. raises everybdoyoydy's >> we do a lot a red teaming, senator. it is a good way to test whether or not what we're doing is making sense. >> i would just ask that we consider that with respect to fusion centers. >> fair enough. >> mr. chairman, i asked the staff to give every member of our committee a copy of that. , will he talkry about the consolidation of these grant programs, would you provide the committee with a

state-by-state import by port write-down of psg funding from 10-12? >> yes. >> thank you. the spending coming through these grant programs go on usa spending.gov? >> i believe that is correct, yes. >> i know you didn't like my dairy much. here is the real crux. our joint terrorism task forces are working well. a place where the local mall enforcement does not have a great relationship with the f b i in terms of running those organizations. value basedadded on the money spent on the fusion centers and what do they bring? it was real privacy rights that have been violated at fusion

centers that have to be cleaned up. we are not the number one funder of that. with a limited budget, where do we get the most bang for our buck? as we researched this, but we found is not very good value for the money we are giving. your job is to be a visionary and you think that value will come. i just have real doubts on it. in a time of limited budget, much -- my hope is taking something that is working well and enhance them where we can

to do everything you want to see in a fusion center done there rather than have two separate organizations. you and i will continue that conversation in the future and hopefully we will get a better of what isr buck going into fusion centers and more product that is usable. >> i would be happy to work with you on that. i would hope to persuade you that what we need are both. are good.f's we are the largest participants. there to investigate p erspective terrorism. fusion centers are there to collect information and provide analytics on all sorts of ha zzard.s.

i think the fusion centers can be made better. i am not quarreling about that. but i would suggest that putting everything under the terrorism label is too narroaw. like that is not what is really 's.pening in the jttf if you talk to sheriffs, where did they go? they go to the joint terrorism task force because that is where the information is that is timely. the problem with fusion centers is their information is always dated. good some of them are very and i don't doubt that boston's was but the point is, can we therte one organization raht than two and to have a benefit and save the taxpayers money? that's all i'm saying. i'm not against fusion centers but we -- what the gao report

said this year if there is hunt of duplication going on -- there is otons of duplication going ioon that the txaxpayer is pay8g ing for. have you read the reports? are you taking to address to location in your department? but i have asked our management team to look at all the areas that gao identified and give me their assessment as to whether the gao was correct. , by the time a gao is written sometimes you do not have the most current information. under these budget times, we any no interest in wasting

taxpayer dollars. if i can find a redundancy or something that can be done efficiently, that is what our efficiency review process is all about. we are going to do that. >> when you see an area that needs our help, you guys got is doing three different things in three different areas that lead to the same results. here is a recommendation. why don't you guys change this? i would like that you be forward with us when you look at all that that the gao has put out and say congress, you have to change this for us if you expect us to be efficient and save money. >> fair enough. >> senator mccaskill talked about the science and technology directory and the duplication there. it's big in terms of what gao says. significant hav ae a increase in funding from 2012. can uyouyou talk about that?

>> almost all of the increase in funding is for the nbass. determined bys everybody who looked at the issue that we needed a level four ag facility laboratory. where the existing one is, we will have to use it for a while but in the end, it will not be our long-term facility. competitionreviewed for where the site should be. kansas was the selected site. now we are in a partnership with the state of kansas. we put in roughly $700 million. they are putting in $300 million of state money to build the level four facility. the budget request enables us to break ground on a main laboratory and to be on a

construction schedule where we would be done by 2020. >> the other thing i would note is at least three reports were april 10,gress on 2013. this is the same time the president submitted his budget request. &tey recover the results of s 's research and development. are they coming? >> i will get back to you on that, senator. >> it is hard for us to look at the 2014 request lome can get reports do -- when we can't get the reports due to us >> that as a fair question.

as long as we're having a frank dickeson -- frank discussion, we will get those reports to you. >> i agree. but is set up in legislation and mandate it is not always think that will make you better or give us more knowledge. i understand that. you have my commitment to help you. >> we will work together on it. to senator turned mccaskill, one of the things we could do that would help the secretary in future secretaries and their leadership team is figure out how to have fewer committees and subcommittees with chart -- jurisdiction over different pieces of what you do. how many are there? 105.e number i use is >> that has a lot of folks to

answer to. maybe as we do our review, we can figure out how to have a few less committees and subcommittees to report to. >> i could not agree more with him on that. i don't know how you have time to do your job. it is a fine line between and making you an efficient. a lot of the duplication we have , it takes a lot of nerve. i neglected my first questioning to thank you. there is an animal signs corridor through the midwest -- animal science quarters to the midwest that is important. i know this was a tough call for you because of limited resources.

it is in kansas and frankly i am not that fond of kansas. [laughter] but it is good for the midwest in our country. i've been fighting as hard as i could for kansas to get the researchor this facility. i think they will be a great partner in the entire region will be great partner. i put you on the spot and i wanted to thank you. >> i appreciate that. thank you very much. >> i have one more question. and the closing thought. you may have a thought you might like to close with. i will give you a minute to think about that while i pose a question.

one of the elements in a they are in favor make usifying way ss to more effective on border security and come up with ways to offset those costs. there is an offset provided in the president's budget to fund some of the issues that will be used. make a case for those. not everyone is in favor of raising revenue. >> the user fees be requested our adjustments to existing user fees. .e have had an air security fee

arerstanding that those who using those particular services, they should pay a littl ebit of as opposed to the taxpayer. the problem is the fees have not been adjusted. it was known mechanism put in there for automatic adjustment. no mechanism put in there for automatic adjustment. the president request we make those adjustments. in the case of the aviation see, we don't do it all at once. we do it over five years. ge dollars talking lar but enough to make the improvements we need to maintain the security we must have a not further burden the taxpayer. the tradeout the

with mexico and canada. put that in perspective but the rest of the world. in relative terms, how important is it? --ed canada and mexico are two of our top three trading partners. translates into billions of annually and thousands of jobs in the united states. facilitating that and having things go smoothly across borders is not only a xsecurity issue but an economic i mperative. working to keep mine to shoulder at ports, figuring out ways to increase traded for -- traitor trading

programs. and putting in the infrastructure for a 21st- century border with mexico. these things really give meaning to the reality that the three two of our top trading partners. christina give us the closing thought -- >> can you give us a closing thought? >> i enjoyed being with the committee today. be have had a fairiri airing of some issues -- we have ha d a fair airing os f som e issues. this department has made tremendous advances over the past 10 years. we know we are still improving and looking for ways to impo rove.

>> i mentioned this before -- an international study was done a year or so ago on npr. was on asking people what you like about your job? people had a lot of different answers. some people like being paid, having benefits, healthcare. the people like the folks they worked with. some people like the surroundings in which they worked. was theycommon answer knew that what they were doing wwaas important and they thought they were making progress. think about that.

is work you and your team doing is incredibly important. we were reminded of that this week read in many ways, the progress is being made in that as a tribute to you, your predecessors and those you lead. everything i do i know i can do better. beene extent there's criticism here, the intent is to be constructive and figure out how we can work with you to enable you and us to do our responsibilities better. but that having been said, the hearing record will remain open for 15 days until may 2, 5:00 p.m. we thank you for yotur time. this hearing is adjourned. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013]

>> tomorrow, eric holder will testify at a hearing about the justice department budget. houseoverage of the appropriations subcommittee on justice starting at 2:00 eastern on c-span three.

she came into the white house. she was 57. well-known. hit the all addicts. was deeply depressed after the death of her son -- hated politics. was deeply depressed after the death of her last sunday she did not have many friends -- of hseer last son. she did not have many friends wonderfuld ths wonis family that left her going. she was a very intellectual woman. highly educated. some ways.asted in >> our conversation on jane pierce, wife of the 14 president franklin pierce is not a valid but -- is now available on c- span.org. our in next monday for

program on mary todd lincoln. >> this documentary comes from zachary cohen of the adele davis academy in sandy springs, georgia. his message to the president looks at funding for education. it is a second prize-winning video in this year's c-span studentcam competition. >> this is a jewish spinning top. when a dreidel is falling, we have two options of -- pick it back up or just leave it there. >> what is the most important issue for the president? is it the economy, foreign affairs? what about healthcare? those are very important issues but don't you think there is one central issue that can solve all our other problems and we should tackle the first? , what mighthinking the big issue be? want to think about it, it is

simple. jnowjjkknowledgee kids the they need to solve these problems? public-school education in this country has taken a backseat to other concerns. that hurt us badly at the nation. one of the things that has made us so competitive throughout the years we have been america is the fact that we have had public-school education. many countries do not invest in that. so it is an investment in our future. sometimes outcomes are not

what we want. >> we have seen through current , therch that in large u.s. educational system is failing. we have seen successes in the california and massachusetts systems. rightgia, we consistently behind. i think the president and congress could do a better job of issuing national standards. however, our current idea of national standards are outdated. out the idea ofut project earning getting away [indiscernible] i think we would have a greater pool of applicants in the workforce. >> nobody gets to write your destiny but you.

your future is in your hands. your life is what you make of it. nothing is beyond your reach. >> mr. president, here is where i is a great with you. nothing is beyond the reach but when school systems are in rough shape and education centers are not up to par, your future will take a large toll and he will not live up to your full potential. here are a few examples on how budget cuts affect schools. are smaller. class sizes are larger and less graduates are able to go to college. these thingshing is keep getting worse. >> for every 109th graders, 70 will graduate from high school. 44 will go on to college. only 30 students will enroll year of second

college and only 21 will graduate from a four-year institution in a six-year period. keepis not good enought o k to the united states competitive. >> these margins are absurd. there are a couple reasons why they are so bad. some of the curriculum is boring and puts kids to sleep. may also be issues a constraining factor. living in a bad home environment can be a big distraction. is probably the worst problem of all. >> scheduled cuts that would take place unless congress acts would mean 8.2% cuts. >> cut. >> yes, cut. and these aren't just dollar

signs in percent. athey are children's futures. >> programs are designed to pick up the slack for kids whose needs aren't being met. all of those programs are designed to deliver needs of children not being met by the larger system. seven point eight percent would have an incredible impact on students across america. >> before we fix the educational system, we need to find out what meets [indiscernible] >> we do have room for improvement. one of the areas that we are we ak in isallowing students the opportunity to be creative ntheir their learing and for o decided relevance for students. with the advent of technologies, students don't necessarily need teachers for information.

they can go to the internet and get answers. but what they do need teachers information is relevant? what information is accurate? --t tax for things that can make or --ak our educational system creativity, relevance, technology, teachers. without funding, the educational system is worthless. school systems have to look at budgets and say what can make that? they will not cut math out of the curriculum. they will not cut reading. so they end up cutting the things we think of as esxtras -- cal education,uysicaysi resources that might be educational -- that might be

essential to some kids think successful. like this is chelsea and she is a special ed student. >> i have dyslexia. . go to a special at school without it, i would be in trouble because they help me with my dyslexia. if you cut the funds i want to be able to learn from early in my future will be in jeopardy. >> mr. president, every day there are millions of kids are struggling i need help, mr. president. >> dear mr. president, they need your help. please take this. polity education is a major issue in america and must be addressed. it is spinning out of control. the drive america's odense and their contributions to society

are in your hands. with your health, we can fix this issue. >> congratulations to all the winners in this year's studentcam competition. to see more winning videos, go to studentcam.coorg. a next, john kerry at hearing of the house foreign affairs committee. president obama at the white house. on or next washington journal, the latest on the boston marathon bombings. -- formermal official on what to do with the tvs -- with detainees held at guantánamo they. tammy baldwin will talk about the senate's agenda and her reaction to wednesday's vote on

gun legislation. >> the f 35 is the most expensive weapons system in the history of mankind. an advancednt -- fighter jets to be used by the air force, navy, and marine corps. it is a replacement for the f- all-purpose fighter jet. it was a plane that was supposed to be in the skies fighting now. still in development. it is an incredibly troubled program. tens of billions of dollars over budget. i borrowed into this program as a way to write about the overall challenges of the defense budget. this program is singular in

terms of its cost overruns and delays in the way it is been structured. effective defensive have to be may not be all of its radars and sensors and missiles. may well be the way it has been designed to evade budget covers in washington. c-more on sunday at 8:00 on span's q&a. >> secretary of state don carey told house members the window opportunities for a two state solution is shutting -- secretary of state john kerry told house members the window of opportunity for a two state solution is shutting.

they are asking for $48 billion. this is just over three hours. >> of this hearing has come to order. today we are privileged to hear on the secretary of state, john kerry. senator kerry is from massachusetts and our committee mourns those lost in the terrorist attack at the boston marathon. our hearts go out to the victims and the family members

. secretaryved ones kerry comes to testify on his department's budget request. needless to say, given washington's chronic budget deficits, wasteful spending is intolerable but even good programs must you subject to prioritization. we can't do everything. , it ishose lines inexcusable that the state department has been operating ar four p.lus years without senate confirmed inspector general. this committee is committed to its responsibility for overseeing vending and other operations in the state department. that is a bipartisan commitment i'm pleased to carry out. the threats facing our nation are meant -- the mounting. iran, north korea, and syria are just the ones read about in the headlines.

the terrorist threat is unfortunately constant. with al qaeda franchises continuing to grow. mr. secretary, our plate is full and we look forward to working to advance our nation's interests regarding koran, we can't be moving fast enough to increase the economic pressure on the iranian revolution regime. the ranking member and i have introduced legislation to do just that. the administration will see the need to send the strongest signal that a ran -- that iran's drive to have nuclear weapons will be stopped. with north korea, we need to be imposing crippling financial sanctions on this increasingly

illiterate regime. in 2005, the treasury department was allowed to counter north korea's illicit activities. a counter those activities because it was discovered that north korea was counterfeiting u.s. $100 bills and drug running and was involved in weapons sales. --t tracactic genetically to curtailed their access to do currency division needed for its nuclear and missile programs. those programs increasingly threaten us. we must get back to that policy. isobust human rights policy especially critical in the case of north korea. the kim regime will never be at peace with it democratic neighbors or us so long as it is at war with its own people, including running a brutal labor described as a concentration camp for those few who have come out of that system

promoting human rights here is in keeping with american values but also presents a critical tactical tool for dealing with the regime. sadly, it's clear the u.s. international broadcasting is in disarray. secretary clinton said so much when she last appeared before the committee. another challenge facing us is seen a successful transition in afghanistan. the consequences of failure would be great. our struggle against terrorism would be set back significantly. we appreciate the risks the men and women of the state department take. i want to express my condolences to the family of those recently killed in afghanistan. this committee and several others have examined the events of benghazi. we understand state department has implemented many of the reforms recommended by the

accountability review board to better protect the department employees. that is good to the board found systematic failures in leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels under the secretary's predecessor. but the committee remains concerned about the review boards process. forave outstanding request information from your department that must be answered. these include whether for state department employees singled out for four performance are still on the payroll. seven months after benghazi, the terrorists are still alive and free. there are great challenges for our nation. the difficulty of prioritizing is compounded by our fiscal crunch. through it all, i look forward to working together to ensure

that america maintains its traditionally positive and essential role in the world. i will now turn to our ranking member from new york for his take. andhank you, mr. chairman secretary kerry. as a ranking member of the foreign affairs committee and a longtime supporter of yours, i welcome you to the foreign affairs committee today. like toet, i would express my condolences on two recent tragedies. the death in afghanistan is ofa young foreign service is officer and the bombing at the boston marathon. you are here anytime in the united states faces an increasing number of number of difficult and complex challenges around the world. remains engulfed in civil war. iran continues to pursue nuclear

weapons capabilities. north korea seems determined to generate a crisis that could have serious implications for our national security. the primary purpose of today's hearing is to assess how the president's fiscal year 2014 in the national affairs budget response to the threats and opportunities we face as a nation. budget goesof our to national security. well i would have preferred to see higher funding levels for diplomats, i will support the broad outline between -- the 2014 international affairs budget request would cuts overall spending by about four percent. the effects of sequestration which i strongly opposed from the beginning are leaving many state department functions dangerously short of funds.

includedt request critical funding to enhance security for our diplomats and development workers. we should act as soon as possible to implement the recommendations of the accountability review board for benghazi and fund state department security proposals. i am please tdd the request provides robust funding for the global fund maintaining u.s. leadership in global health. the 2014 budget increases assistance to help the syrian people. i recently introduced an act which provides a comprehensive strategy to end the conflict in syria. i look forward to working with you to bring the assad regime to

an end and address the crisis he created. a nuclearsuit of weapons capability is the foremost threat facing the united states in the world today. over the past four years, president obama has unified the international community against this threat and signed into law the strongest ever sanctions against the regime in tehran. iran has been forced to the negotiating table. they refused to negotiate seriously. meanwhile, the centrifuges are spinning more efficiently than never. i urge the administration to continue to increase the pressure on iran and keep all options on the table until around abandoned its nuclear program was overall. the chairman and i have introduced bipartisan legislation to increase the pressure onirn iran. i also want to congratulate president obama on is tremendously successful trip to israel and for fully funding aide to israel on the budget

request. i traveled with the president to israel where he worked to strengthen the eternal bond between israel and the united states and was received enthusiastically by the israeli people. as to secretary, israel has conditionalt seeks direct negotiations with the palestinians. i applaud the administration for urging palestinians to accept that offer. regrettably, they keep breaking one condition after another, casting doubt on their commitment to ending the conflict with israel. i also want to swork closely wih terrificild ont he the work of secretary clinton on supporting kosovo. it is my understanding parties had been convened for a meeting of to speak.

they negotiated in good faith with serbia a but serbia walked away from the table. in the end, the people of kosovo want to be treated fairly just like their balkan neighbors, their future requires a clear path into nato and the eu. i thank you, mr. chairman, and i look forward to secretary kerry 's testimony. >> thank you. this morning we are joined by 68th secretary of state. prior to his appointment, the secretary served as united states senator from massachusetts for 20 years and shchaired the foreign relations committee in the senate for four years. now he has to answer the questions. mr. secretary, welcome.

his full statement will be made part of the record and members bmit have five days to sgum statements and questions for the record. everyone here, and mr. secretary, could you summarize your remarks in five minutes it will then follow questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i just ask you to remember what goes around comes around. [laughter] thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your comments about boston. it's b impossible for me to express my sadness and my ander, ger, gfrankly, over those terrible events. it's hard to believe tha t a holiday was

turned into a bloody mayhem. but i jknknow how resilient bostonians are, despite the fact that it took us 86 years to win a [indiscernible] i talked this week with friends and family up there. closeanddaughter of a friend of mine is both her legs.p we will find out who did this. the police were being done is extraordinary. the fbi is remarkable. there was a great deal of forensic evidence and we are hopeful we can bring people to justice. earnings of the business forces morning -- turning to the

business before us this morning my remarksy to keep short. in of the lessons i learned my early travels, enemy say what a privilege it is to be before this committee. i respect what each of you represent and i come before you to be accountable on behalf of the administration. as senator lindsey graham said very eloquently, america's investment in foreign-policy is national security insurance. there is nothing foreign about foreign policy anymore. smartcan make the small,. w vestments upfront and avoid more costly conflicts and greater burdens down the road.

, we'vepast few months seen developments underscore the state -- stakes for having a strong and -- strong american presence in the world. that was a positive step toward stability in the volatile region of the world where we need partnerships. the committee is more than immersed in suyyruiaia. we have treated millions to humanitarian relief -- we have provided millions to humanitarian relief. i expect we will talk about syria somewhat today. having returned from beijing and north koreathe issue took center stage, we are reminded once again that america is the guardian of global security. we should be proud of that.

one not turn our back on keys nor will we hesitate what we need to do to defend our allies. if budget is an analyst patient of our values and priorities -- this budget is an illustration of our values and priorities. i have a record of wanting to do deficit reduction. we are grappling with these at the stateoo department. as part of the budget, we will help cut our deficit responsibly while investing in areas that attract economic growth and create jobs for americans and secure our national interest. budget request of

represents a six percent reduction from 2012 fudnding levels. we have examined our request with a clear determination to improve efficiency. given limited reforms and reduce costs -- we have implemented reforms and reduce cost. we deliver the maximum bang for the minimal manager of our citizens dollars. about one penny for our national security and global interests out of every dollar. you may give you examples of the kind of work you're doing to make the world safer. with just over $3.5 million, the bureau conflict and stabilization operations made investments leading up to the recent elections in kenya. i know that helped to prevent a repeat of the violence we saw five years ago

it also provided accountability to concededodingd odinga without instilling violence. we have trained forces to interdict law enforcement to detect and neutralize explosive devices, and help us interdict plots before they come to our shores. our 24 team budget request advances peace, security, and stability in places where all three can be scarce commodities. i have already traveled three times as secretary to the middle east and north africa, a region struggling to respond to growing expectations for dignity and opportunity, the very values we have been promoting. leaders there are making difficult decisions. the united states cannot make decisions for them, but we can

do a lot to be a partner for those on the side of freedom and democracy. to that end, the budget includes a request for $580 middle east and north africa, so we can give reformers tools and resources they need to make the right decisions on behalf of their citizens. say fund also allows us to to people in the region, if you are willing to take on the challenges of democracy and throw off the yoke of dictatorship, we are here for you. when we look at the threats that emanate from failed and potentially-failing states, i think it is important that we learn the lessons of the past. the u.s. homeland will not be secure if violent extremists are bent on attacking us, and they can find a safe haven in glaces like the mob grab -- ma hreb. threats range from al qaeda

rebels to narcotraffickers. this budget sets aside money for counterterrorism law-enforcement assistance. i ask you, every member -- just compare that $8.6 billion to the more than $1 trillion we have spent fighting in iraq and afghanistan, and i think you will agree it is both penny wise and pound wise. the united states cannot be strong at home if we are not strong in today's world. this is particularly true when it comes to our domestic economic renewal. be moreto, i think, visible, engaged, and strong in certain places, particularly to stoke our economic engines with trade and business opportunities available across this planet. that is why the president is committed to successfully completing the transatlantic trade and investment partnership, and the

transpacific partnership. we want to tap growing markets of the asia-pacific which are vital to economic recovery. most of the growth in the world in the double digits or high single digits is in those parts of the world. i know you will agree with me on the value of investing in our relationship with asia. many of you, including the chairman, the representative ranking member, have traveled to that region recently. you were there on the very day i assume these responsibilities. when it comes to shoring up our economic health and protecting our national security, i believe our development work is one of our strongest assets. let me be clear. development is not charity. it is an investment. i believe it is an investment, and president obama believes it is an investment in a strong world and a strong america. tradingr top 15 partners were once beneficiaries

of u.s. foreign assistance. you cannot afford to pull back from what that lesson tells us. south korea, 15 years ago, was an aid recipient. today, it is giving aid around the world. it does not mean we cannot work in better, more efficient ways, but let me highlight a few of the reforms. u.s. food aid, for instance. but giving ourselves the flexibility to choose the most appropriate kind of food assistance, we will reach an estimated 2 million to 4 million people a year with the same discretionary funding. at the same time, we are going to save approximately 500 million dollars in mandatory funding over the next decade, which we can use to reduce the deficit. american growers and producers will still play a major role. over half of the funding we are requesting for emergency food purchaseuse for the and shipping of u.s. commodities overseas.

but by giving us the ability to modernize, including the flexibility to procure food aid in developing countries closer to crisis areas, not only do we feed more people, but we get food to malnourished people 11 to 14 weeks faster. here is the bottom line. this change allows us to do more, to help more people lift themselves out of hunger at a rapid pace, without spending more money. i think that is a great deal for the american taxpayer. the final area i want to mention is how this budget carriers for our most valuable resource, the personnel, the men and women of the state department and usaid, who are on the front lines. we have requested $4.4 billion to improve our overseas infrastructure. $2.2 billion of this is set aside for constructing secure diplomatic facilities.

this is part of our commitment to implement in full the recommendations so we can mitigate the risk of future tragedies. it has been a hard year for the state department family, a family that knows exactly how risky the work we sign up for can be in a dangerous world. chairman, you mentioned the situation of the loss of the woman being laid to rest while i am here. i visited with her family in chicago. we will have a memorial service for her at the state department on may 2 or three. i met her my last visit, earlier in the week. weat with her parents, and swapped stories about her enthusiasm, or energy, her vitality. she really wanted to make a difference in the lives of people she had never met, and she was. and ambassador stephens are

cut from the same cloth. that is, frankly, what made them such outstanding americans, as well as members of the state department family. as secretary, my job is to make sure we protect these people, and frankly, it is all of our job. i think you know that. we cannot do it by retreating from the world. we stand for optimism. we stand for opportunity. we stand for equality. we stand in opposition to all those who would replace hope with hate, replace peace with violence, war. that is what we believe. that is when america is at the best. the statee values of department and usaid that i intend to defend every day. thank you, mr. chairman. i know i went a little over. >> let me raise a couple of issues. this committee has been frustrated in obtaining documents and other information on the department concerning the

benghazi terror attacks. this predates her tenure, so i am hopeful we will be able to resolve this as you get your team in place, so we can move forward on this important issue. i would also like to call your attention to the inspector general and office, the key independent office looking at waste and fraud. mr. secretary, as of today, there has been no permanent state department inspector general for over five years. this includes president obama's entire first term. the committee raised this issue in a bipartisan letter sent to you in february. we would like to see an immediate appointment to this position. on north korea, you know my views on this, but the united , past administrations administrations, have tried to offer north korea aid. we have offered over a billion

dollars, or sanctions relief, for nuclear commitments. administrations from both parties have been embarrassed when the regime tore up those agreements. former secretary of defense dates was fond of saying, i am tired of buying the same course twice. my concern is that the administration may be thinking of doing just that. i would just ask -- how is this different, this approach to north korea, from the past attempts to offer aid in exchange for a change in policy which never came? andreat questions, all, all deserve a straight answer, and i will give it to you. on the inspector general, you are correct. we are trying to fill a number of positions, that among them. the greatest difficulty i am finding, now that i am on the other side of the fence, is the vetting process.

i have folks i selected back in february, when i first came in. we are now april, and i am still waiting. the white house are totally on board. they are trying to get it moved. i hope that within a very short time, you will see these slots filled. they need to be. that is the bottom line. it is important. i think this is the longest we have had in the history of this position. if you could talk to the president about this issue -- >> i do not need to talk to the president. we are going to get this done. we know it, and we are trying to get the right people. andhing person to task, also clearing all the other hurdles, is, i am finding, not always as easy as one thinks, but we will get it done. on the subject of benghazi, i was on the other side of the timem, the dais, a short

ago, when that was a big issue. we held hearings in the foreign relations committee in the senate, and we wanted materials, and we got a lot. in fairness, i think the administration has testified eight times, has briefed 20 times. secretary clinton spent five hours asking questions before the senate foreign relations committee. 25,000 documents have been turned over. video of the actual event has been made available to members to see. if you have not seen it, i urge you to see it, because it is enormously helpful in understanding the flow of events and what happened. and the people who were involved have all been interviewed, and not only interviewed, but those fbi interviews were made part of the record, and in an unprecedented way, have been made available to congress in order to read verbatim the testimony. if you have additional questions, or you think there

is a document that somehow you need, i will work with you to try to get it, and see if we can provide that to you. >> i have to disagree for a minute. instead of handing over copies of the documents and records that we requested, as has always been customary practice in the past, the department has insisted that the committee staff sift through thousands of pages of materials in a room in which they are monitored by the department. and they cannot remove any, or make a lot -- make electronic copies of those documents. mr. secretary, these are unclassified documents that relate to the critical issue of embassy security. the department is literally spending thousands of taxpayer dollars a week to stop the progress of the committee review. this has resulted in a great deal of wasted time and money. i think it runs contrary to the

administration promise of increased transparency. i hope you will reconsider the department position on this issue. >> i did not know there was a position that does what you are describing. there is certainly no position by me to delay anything, and i was not aware -- if there is anything that is appropriate to turn over -- what i want to check is what is the historical precedent with respect to the fbi document, which we do not control. i want to find out the story on that. i will work with you, and you will have me up here again, and if i have not worked with you, i am sure i will know about it. i promise you we will work together to try to do that. on north korea, let me make it clear -- i have no desire as secretary of state, and the president has no desire, to do the same horse trade or go down the old road. i just came from beijing, and from discussions there, where i

articulated as strongly as i can that we are not going to go down the same road, that the policy of russia, the policy of china, the policy of south korea, japan, and the united states, all of us, is denuclearization. the single country that has the biggest ability to impact that is china. we had that discussion, and we agreed in the very next day's to engage in an ongoing process by which we work out exactly how we are going to proceed so it is different. that is our goal. i can assure you i want to reach it. the chairman of the joint chiefs, martin dempsey, will be traveling to china in the next days. deputy secretary burns will be going in about two weeks. we are going to keep the pressure on this in order to try to make this outcome different.

we didhe past, in 2005, find a way to incentivize financial institutions that were assisting north korea by giving them access to hard currency. frankly, what we did was freeze those accounts, by giving those banks a choice between doing business with the united states or with north korea. at the same time, we could tackle the illicit shipments on the high seas, as we have done before with the security initiative. we could ratchet up radio broadcasts into the country. we could make a strong stand, as i'm sure we will, on north korean human rights abuses, letting north korea know they will be held to account. we could take it to the international criminal court. these type of steps, especially in relation to the activities we have seen out of north korea -- i think it is time we pursue something that is capable of cutting off the access to hard

currency on the part of the regime. , andose are all options there are many others, and we are going to explore every option. that very clear to me nothing short of a change is going to get us where we need to go. we cannot repeat the same thing. >> thank you, mr. secretary. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, welcome. i had the honor a few weeks ago of accompanying the president on his trip to israel. the israelis have repeatedly said they are willing to negotiate with the palestinians , face to face, across the table, with no preconditions. that is how the situation in northern ireland was taken care of. that is what you do when you want to end a conflict. unfortunately, the palestinians have refused. this week, i minister fayed, one of the most moderate palestinians, resigned.

i wonder if you can give your assessment of what is going on in the middle east, and what we are doing to back the israelis in their legitimate quest to say, we want to negotiate, no preconditions. with iran, it is clear to me that iran is buying time as the nuclear program advances. the recent talks seem to have failed. talks are delayed now intel iranian elections in june, and ramadan, which starts in early august. when do we say is enough enough? what is the administration plan for moving forward? the state department and usaid worked hard to address the humanitarian capacity in sudan, but -- in syria, but i do not believe this war can only be one with humanitarian assistance and diplomacy. do you believe the united states will have any influence in the post-assad syria if we do

not provide the weapons the syrians to force him from power? >> i will do what i can in three minutes. >> we will give you extra time. tofungus men, i am going start with your last question and work backwards. , i am going to start with your last question and work backwards. we are working closely with the syrian opposition, the syrian military coalition, and with our core partners, as well as with the standard groups -- j -- g-eight, etc.. i was just at a meeting with the syrian opposition. i am flying to istanbul for a saturday meeting with all of the core group members and more of the syrian opposition. we are trying to get everybody

on the same page. the fact is that some people are providing weapons, and they have chosen to do that. others are apparently about to decide to do it, some of our friends. others have chosen the different path of providing different kinds of assistance. the point is the opposition, i believe, is making headway on the ground. i believe assad's days are numbered. i will not get into the game of months or how long. i am convinced he is going to go. the question is when and how. obviously, there are dangers of extremists who are finding some funding and engaged in the battle. we want to try to separate them, if that is possible. we also want to make certain that the people we are working with are committed to pluralism , diversity, a democratic process, to all serious being theesented, it including

christians and so forth. there have to be a series of guarantees. we are trying to proceed carefully to make sure we are not contributing to a worse mess, but that we are actually finding a constructive path forward. the most important thing about syria i will leave with everyone is this. there is a communiqué that was issued in geneva last year, which the russians signed on to and the international community signed onto, that calls for a transitional government, chosen by mutual consent from both sides, which obviously does not include assad, because he will not consent. that obviously provides an opportunity for a peaceful transition that maintains the institutions of the state. that is a critical goal. we are trying to proceed thoughtfully and carefully. i think the meeting this weekend is going to be a very important one, in terms of determining

what options might be available for the road ahead. canhe middle east, you tell from my early travels and my engagements that we are committed to trying to find out what is possible. i am not going to come here today and layout to you a schedule, or define the process , because we are in the process of working that out with the critical parties. but in my meetings on both sides, i have found a seriousness of purpose, a commitment to explore how we .ctually get to a negotiation we all have homework to do. we are doing that homework. i ask you, give us a little bit of time. am i can guarantee you i committed to this because i believe the window for a two state solution is shutting. i think we have some time in a year and a half to two years, or

it is over. everybody i have talked to in all of the-- i had supporters globally who care about the piece. i have been struck in my travels by how many people everywhere raised the subject and want us to move forward on a peace effort. they are all worried about the timing. there is urgency to this, in my mind. i intend, on the half of the tosident's instructions, honor that urgency and see what we can do to move forward. with respect to iran, i have to state simply -- we are in the closest communication possible with israel, our friends, and others concerned about this. we are discussing the clock, the timeframe, on iran. in richmond and the nature of the threat. i think we are in sync. the president has made his policy crystal clear. no option is off the table, and

iran will not get a nuclear weapon. that is the policy. i reaffirm it today. we are going to continue to leave the door to diplomacy open, what we understand there is a clock. so very much, mr. chairman, ranking member, and welcome, mr. secretary. it is always a pleasure to see you. days ago, the venezuelan people faced impediments to a free and fair election, due to the destructive and corrupt policies loyalists. they will not allow a recount in an open and transparent manner. the u.s. must not, therefore, recognize these election results until a full and transparent recount and audit are conducted. will you pledge today that the united states will refuse to recognize the accreditation and swearing in of the president-

elect? responsea coherent from the state department legitimize the regime? here is a list of voting irregularities, provided by the opposition in venezuela, for your review. , venezuela's largest supporter has been the castro regime. both continue to use oppressive tactics against their people. yet by cutting u.s. democracy funds for cuba, this administration is undermining the opposition and our efforts to help true democratic reform on the island. , civilthis proposed cut society leaders may not be able to advance their democratic cause. as our nation continues to face policy ofoes, the the united states must be to be good stewards of u.s. taxpayer dollars. when i chaired this committee, i placed holds on assistance to

the palestinian authority. the recent resignation casts a shadow, and opens the door for renewed reconciliation efforts between fatah and hamas. if the palestinian authority is committed to the peace process, why does the administration see the need to use u.s. taxpayer dollars to entice the palestinian authority to go back to the negotiation table? we cannot guarantee these funds will not be funneled to hamas. the administration is also foresting $580 million middle east and north africa funds. can specific benchmarks ensure greater accountability and transparency in these funds , and who will oversee the implementation of this money? lastly, i have two questions for written reply, to allow the camp liberty residents in iraq to go

back to camp ashra? the double layered walls that were protecting the camp are removed, and now the residents are vulnerable to armed attacks, as they were on february 9, when eight residents were killed. will the u.s. ask the iraqi government to adequately protect the residence in camp liberty? another question for written response highlights greece's importance to united states, and asks turkey to allow the christian seminary to reopen. on venezuela, will the u.s. noognize a president in recounts? >> i cannot give you a yes or no answer on that. we think there ought to be a recount. i do not know what will happen in the next days. they are talking about having an inauguration on friday. obviously, if there are huge irregularities, we are going to

have serious questions about the viability of that government. at that evaluation has to be made, and i have not made it yet. >> will you be sending someone to the swearing in ceremony? >> under contested circumstances, i would be very doubtful of that. there is no plan to. but we have to take a look at what is going to flow here. originally, he said also there ought to be a recount. now, the cne has stepped in and said no. the ons has asked for a recount and other half -- others have. the other questions -- >> those were written. lex i will tell you quickly -- i met with prime minister malik a couple of days ago. camp liberty was on his mind. we have actually run into some problems. there was an albanian offer to take some people.

that was turned down. we are working through a complicated situation. we will give you a full written answer on that. with respect to the mideast -- let me leave the middle east and north africa for last. on the palestinian authority, i have to tell you, there is no way any of that money is going to hamas. is no relationship right now between the palestinian authority and hamas. in fact, there is still the key vigorous competition going on. i do not anticipate a reconciliation in the next few days or weeks, frankly. ,ne of the things we need to do madam chairwoman, is strengthen the palestinian authority. -- somebody here has to tell me who is going to take the place of fayed, now that is up for grabs.

it seems to me that for israel, for us, for the world, that not strengthening the palestinian authority is work against our own interests. doingmiral there now is an extraordinary job following up on what general dayton started to help build the security capacity in the west bank. last year, the entire year, not one israeli was killed from an incident from the west bank. we need to recognize, even as there are difficulties, a lot is happening. their economy is growing at a relatively decent rate. there is a level of cooperation which is growing, a capacity that is growing. we want to continue that. i think that to not invest would be remarkably shortsighted, particularly given where we are now. -- primer netanyahu

minister netanyahu has agreed in the last days to engage in a new initiative not as a substitute -- i want to emphasize this. but in addition to the political track. he believes we need to advance -- >> thank you, mr. secretary. >> thank you for your continuing service to our nation. condolences on what has happened in your home state, and to several of the state department employees who work under your leadership. i have got too many questions, so this may be a relaxing five minutes. for the most part tom i hope you will respond for the record. there is probably no more important country than pakistan , and nothing more important to our public -- then our public

outreach to the pakistani people, yet we are broadcasting only in urdu. this committee voted unanimously that we should spend $1.5 million broadcasting in the language, and the several major languages of pakistan, although there are elements of the government that have a phobia for the use of any language other than urdu. you would not dream of trying to ,ell a product in los angeles broadcasting only in one language. who are visartners waiver countries. 74 members of this house have co-sponsored the bill i introduced with congressman polk. similar bills have gotten -- we introduce that bill last year.

this year, the senate, barbara boxer and senator white, have bills that have significant support. not every country can be a visa waiver country, but israel needs to do tests better than hungary, with the way nina, latvia, who were made waiver countries years ago. and ouruntry in europe, canadian neighbors to the north , have worked these out, and have given visa waiver status to israel. i hope that when israelis want to see mickey mouse, they come to disneyland or disney world, and not eurodisney. those shackles could be useful here. i want to commend the administration for the sanctions already imposed, but we have not shanks and -- sanctioned shipping companies used by the national guard core. we have not sanctioned russia's

metal dealers that are helping iran invade sanctions. i would hope that you would instruct your staff to focus on those sanctions. likewise, we have issued an exemption to chinese financial institutions doing transactions with the central bank of iran, citing a reduction in chinese purchases of iranian oil. i hope you would furnish, for the record, what significant reductions there have been in chinese purchases of iranian oil, and also furnish the statistics with regard to india and turkey. when ito add my voice ofes to the mek residents the camp, and the importance of us using our efforts with iraq to make sure they comply to international law, and restore

the protective terriers that had been there. i hope that you would condemn azerbaijan's threats to shoot down civilian airliners that fly into their airport, and the turkish blockade of armenia. my last question probably does deserve an oral response. but it is a permit sure and unfair question, because matters need to be analyzed. that is, do you see any parallels between what happened and international terrorist incidents that happened in the past, whether those incidents actually occurred, or whether they were nicked in the bud? i realize it is premature. headingn your role as

our foreign-policy operation, do you see anything that has happened abroad that might be parallel to what we have seen in boston? >> congressman, i am not going to speculate. i have no evidence, and it would be inappropriate for me to cross any line on that. terror is terror. in a mass ofoff people is a bomb going off in a mass of people. orther it is homegrown foreign, we do not know yet. i am not going to contribute to any speculation on that. ofope has had its share bombs on trains. madrid, london. buses in bulgaria. that was hezbollah.

it is inappropriate for me to go into that territory, if you do not mind. >> i understand. >> let the people do their jobs and the forensic work, and we will see where we are. , africa to chris smith and human rights chair. >> i want to thank you for raising your voice on the half of an iranian pastor. we all appreciate that. we hope it makes a difference and you will continue to do so. alone,the last two years i have chaired three congressional hearings on the systematic abduction of coptic christian teenage girls, and even young mothers, who are forced to marry muslim egyptian man and renounce their christian faith. there was a piece in today's inter-press service news agency that more than 500 christian girls have been abducted in the last two years, according to the association of victims of abduction and forced his appearance, average age 13 to

17. i raised this with ambassador peterson. frank wolf physically put it in her hands. by skype, she talked to our committee. she said she had not gotten around to it. i ask you -- i raised this issue with president morsi. you probably have not been briefed. but it is a horrible human trafficking issue, and i hope you will raise it. secondly, there has been testimony at three of my four hearings on a case, twice by phone and once in person. chen is a brave human rights defender who exposed the hideous practice of forced abortion in china, defended women in a class action suit, and for that was tortured with unbelievable methods. he and his wife. has become his

proxy, and is himself being tortured. he appeals strongly to you, to me, the president, and all in congress to raise the case of his nephew, but also to ask for information about his case, which he has been able to get from the department. the issue of forced abortion and sex-selection abortion is so horrific -- china is missing tens of millions of little girls who have been killed by sex-selected abortion. a woman has written a book and pointed out there is over 160 million missing females in the asian population, more than the entire population of women and girls in the united states of america. it is terrible. it is destabilizing. it is a crime against women. chen paid the price for that, and now his nephew is. on october 5, you wrote an excellent letter to secretary clinton, asking that jacob be

assisted in bolivia. i have been there twice. i visited him in prison, and again in his hospital room. he is very, very sick. he has never been charged with anything. 18 months in a terrible prison. he is sick. we have never been able to get the intervention above an assistant secretary level. would you see fit to call evo morales and rescue this man? several of the prosecutors involved with prosecuting him are now behind bars, because they broke bolivian law. finally, child abduction, particularly to japan -- nobody has come back from japan. 300 cases. nobody has come back. i am running out of time. we need to force the child abduction case, especially as it relates to japan. by salutinggin

your unbelievably long-term passion for all of these human rights issues. you and i have worked together on a couple of things, and i respect her tenacity and focus. i know it makes a difference for these people that you have raised these issues. that onell you directly , i raisedong shang the issue of not only his nephew, his family, while i was in china, at the highest level. there is nowhere i visit that i do not raise the issue of our human rights cases. with respect to child abduction in japan, the answer is, yes, i raised it, again at the highest level. i know people personally who have had children abducted. they have never gotten a

response. they have never come back. i raised that issue -- the last conversation i had was a half- over the issue of colin bower, from massachusetts , who has two kids that were kidnapped out of massachusetts and taken to egypt. he has had unbelievable difficulty having the law enforced, being able to visit them. this is a huge issue. we have families of kids who have been abducted, gone to japan. the cannot see them. they do not get to them again. we have to resolve this. to his credit, prime minister abe has submitted a child abduction convention and is trying to get it passed. i think we will find new cooperation with this administration. these are extraordinary issues. , on theortantly abduction of these young women,

the topics, there still is slavery in the world. you know that, and i know that. and it is a tragedy. there is human trafficking that takes place in many more places than people think, and many more ways than people think. and we are going to raise that. we are raising that issue in the state department. i raised it as chairman. we raised it in the senate. i promise we will continue to focus on that in the days ahead. >> it is delightful to see you, mr. secretary. thank you for your dedication to our country, and all of the work you have done over the years, first as senator, now as secretary of state. i applaud the obama administration for ambitious negotiations on the important trade agreements you talked about -- the transatlantic trade and investment partnership, and the

agreement with trading partners in asia. these negotiations hold a promise of boosting the u.s. economy with increased access to our largest markets, and stronger investments that would lead to more jobs. the economic potential is critical at a time when one in five jobs in our country are trade dependent. that trade is about more than tariffs. toope, we know, is critical help the united states with issues that cut across the foreign-policy perspective. asia is also key to several of our economic security interests, as you highlighted in your recent trip. it is critical we deepen economic ties to the ee you and but cannot lose sight of other critical missions, like turkey and russia. tackling some of our toughest geopolitical challenges will require a closer connection, i believe, to these nations.

i praise you on your recent trip to turkey, where you have gotten turkey closer to resolving issues with israel, a move i think is tremendously important, and i commend you on that. i am concerned about russia, and russia's recent reaction to the list of names released by the u.s. treasury on the requirement of a law. as thet question is, administration focuses its foreign affairs budget, how would you collaborate with russia and turkey? what role would they play to balance deepening of ties to the eu and asia, while also working together on key strategic and mutual interests that we have? i have worked in the western hemisphere for a long time. i would like a view of whether

or not, and how, the administration is looking at the western hemisphere. i, like anybody else, believe that all votes should be counted. in fact, i wish all votes were counted in 2000. but it did not happen here. but at any rate. working with our strategic partners -- colombia, peru, brazil -- they seem to be working with one another. in connection with us, we see poverty beginning to be lower there. what is our policy? how are the foreign affairs budgets going to be prioritized in the entire region, as opposed to focused on one country? they seem to be trying to work together closer than ever before. >> thank you, congressman. i am very, very hopeful. i am planning a trip shortly to

both colombia and brazil, and other countries, hopefully, as time permits. we have had some issues, obviously, with argentina, over some debt repayment, which we need to work through. the western hemisphere is our backyard. it is critical to us. too often, countries in the western hemisphere think the united states does not pay enough attention to them. on occasion, that has probably been true. i think we need to reach out vigorously. we plan to. the president will be traveling to mexico very shortly. i cannot remember which other countries. but he is going to the region. i will be going, with other high-level visits. we intend to do everything possible to try to change the attitude of a number of nations where we have had, obviously, sort of a breach in the relationship over the last few years. the ttp are really

critical to the united states, as well as to europe and the pacific relationship. japan is very anxious to be involved in the ttp. they have taken steps to try to meet the standards. , anda, new zealand australia still need to make a decision about them coming in. the hope is that we can get to the july negotiations with japan and really move forward on that. europe is very excited about turkey would also like to have a negotiation that is parallel. i think what we are seeing here opening up of opportunity to raise the standards by which people have been trading to the highest common denominator, not the lowest, and to begin to open up new opportunities for growth in

countries that are struggling right now to find that growth. i think these are plus-plus, win-win for everybody. on russia -- some people criticize, and say, what happened to the reset? i think they are overlooking -- are there counter reactions to some things? yes, there are. have we gone down to a lower moment in that relationship? answer is yes. and we have these fights over adoption, etc. but on the issues, notice that russia cooperated on us with respect to afghanistan and the northern route, it has been critical, with the wto, with iran sanctions, on the un resolution, on the dprk, and on the start treaty. those are big-ticket items.

even though there have been some bumps in the road, i am very hopeful that we can move this relationship back to a more visibly completely constructive place, and we need to work at it. i had a good meeting in london with the foreign minister to that and. i have been invited to go to russia, which i will do prior to the g-8. tremendouslyen cooperative, and very positive, in a number of different ways. the foreign minister and i have a very good working relationship. i met with the prime minister a number of times already as secretary. i have pledged to be supportive of the middle east peace ross s. they are being supportive with respect to syria. they are hosting this meeting this saturday in an effort to bring the syria core group together. and turkey is talking with us right now about helping with

respect to both cyprus and another frozen conflict where we need to break out of the past. athink turkey is going to be constructive player. i look forward to a productive relationship. ofwe go now to the chairman the europe, asia, and emerging threats subcommittee. >> welcome aboard. >> good to see you. how are you doing? >> good to see you. worked together on a number of issues in the past. >> a lot of years. >> three specific things i would like to ask you about. you have already been alerted in the hearing as to our concerns, and have expressed your concern, about the mek's vulnerable situation in camp liberty. there was an attack last february, and eight people were killed. many were wounded. have asked them to take down the structures giving them

protection. the structures have been taken down. russia is going to hold the malik he government responsible for their safety. murdered, will the administration withdraw its camp wefor aid in a helped put there? any way going to pressure the maliki regime on this issue? >> i raised this issue directly with the prime minister a couple of weeks ago. i am very concerned about the for another attack. we are trying very hard to find a place to resettle everybody.

i will tell you -- >> i almost said senator. mr. secretary, to more questions. >> go ahead. i will say to you the answer is yes, we are looking for accountability, and working hard to provide safety. it is the iranian government that i believe was involved. they need the iraqi government to help provide security. >> maliki's coziness with iran is disturbing, and this may reflect that. for military aid to pakistan. hundreds of millions of dollars. and billions in other aid to a government that is holding in doctor who helped us bring to justice osama bin laden, a government that gave osama bin laden 10 years of safe haven.

my question to you specifically is, how much longer are we going to rely on quiet diplomacy, talking with the pakistanis, about trying to free an american hero? how long will we use quiet diplomacy rather than just cutting off their aid? >> you know the old saying about cutting off your nose to spite your face. cutting off aid to pakistan would not be a good move, certainly, at this point in time, for a lot of different reasons. we are working with pakistan with respect to nuclear weapons safety and nonproliferation. we are working with pakistan to get supplies in and out of afghanistan. pakistan has lost perhaps 50,000 people in the last years to terror. they have soldiers -- >> again, secretary, the doctor

-- it is a safe haven for terrorists. they ended up giving some of our aid to terrorists who are killing us. the guy who tried to save us is languishing in a dungeon. shame on us. not on you, mr. secretary. shame on us if we allow him to languish in a dungeon. >> we are not ignoring him at all. believe me. , and itcussion we have goes on. but it is just not as simple as holding everything accountable to one thing. they assert there were certain laws that were broken. you know the arguments. that complicates it. >> i have 30 seconds. i have an issue that is vitally important to bring up. i know you are new to the job. we wish you all the success. i do not believe that secretary of state hillary was honestly

cooperative with this committee about benghazi. we have made request after request about, for example, just to get the list of the names of the people who were evacuated. we have not even gotten that, much less some of the other important questions. i know the state department has flooded us with paper for some of the most insignificant things. mr. secretary, we think there was a cover-up of some kind of wrongdoing that led this administration to lie to the american people about the nature of the attack immediately after the attack, and for a week after that attack. we need to have these questions answered. we need to talk to the people who were on the scene. can you give us a commitment that for this administration, you will be coming up with the honest requests of this investigative committee as to who was evacuated, and how to

talk to them, so we can get a straight answer and an understanding of what happened? i before i became secretary, believe i got the answers to who was evacuated, and had a pretty good sense of what happened there. but now that i am the secretary , and i am responsible to you and the congress, i can promise you that if you are not getting something that you have evidence of an think you ought to be getting, we will work with you. i will appoint somebody to work directly with you, starting tomorrow, mr. chairman, to have a review of anything you think you have not gotten that you are supposed to get. let us get this done. let us figure out what it is that is missing, if it is legitimate or is not. i do not think anybody lied to anybody. let us find out together what happened. we have a lot more important things to move on to and get done. >> thank you very much, mr. secretary.

>> mr. secretary, i am sorry about what happened in your state. i am sure you are hurt. i have three questions. one is, can you give me the status of the latest efforts to release the doctor alan gross from cuba? what is our latest effort to have him released? where are we with that? the other part of the question is, we have in new jersey a million dollar bounty on joann show some are -- chessomar. trooper in newe jersey and fled to cuba. i wonder if you are going to raise this issue, and whether there is compensation. the second question i have is, i've are present a great deal of christians in my district. it seems that egypt is making a concerted effort to remove the 60 million coptic christians in

egypt. a couple of weeks ago, there were more murders in egypt. something needs to be done. do you anticipate any cuts to the assistance we are going to give israel in the coming year? >> do we anticipate any cuts? >> any cuts. >> i will answer the last first, and then get to alan gross. the budget, about $3 billion total, but that is subject to sequester, as is everything. we are not able to undo that. there will be a reduction. it is still a net loss up, but a sequester will apply to everything, including jordan and israel. the sequester was not supposed to happen. that was the theory. we are living with it, and so we have cuts we do not want. that is the absence of making the policy choice.

yes, there will be cuts in the sequester. on alan gross, a lot of effort has gone into that. .enator leahy just came back he visited with alan gross. he has talked to the government about it. they have been attempting to trade alan gross for the five spice that are imprisoned here in the united states, and we have refused to do that, because there is no equivalency. alan gross is wrongly imprisoned. we are not going to trade as if it is a spy, which they are trying to allege. we are trying to work this out on a humanitarian basis. i am personally engage, as others are. i've had personal meetings before i even became secretary, trying to get him out of there. i hope that somehow we can appeal to the regimes. i guess i should rephrase that. we can find out whether there is capacity or not,

because he does not belong in prison. he is sick. he has been there for three years or more, and ought to be released on a humanitarian basis. we are going to continue to press. >> and joann chessomar? >> i do not have the background on that. i will get back to you. >> just for the record, she killed a state trooper in new jersey, and new jersey has a $1 million bounty. she has been living in cuba free in the last 20 years after killing a state trooper in new jersey. and egypt?et the >> i have met with resident morsi -- president morsi several times. generally speaking when we have raised issues, there has been a response but it is not even and

across the board. we are very concerned about safety and security going forward. very difficult date right now. there is no other way to describe it. there are a number of forces at play not just within egypt but certain states in the vicinity are supporting groups that are creating problems. you have the black box and other groups being funded from outside. we are trying very hard to move things towards a place of stability. complicatedry because the muslim brotherhood raises questions of the readiness and willingness of in notto work with it just egypt but outside of agent -- of egypt.

we have again and again been talking to them about the need for a broader-based governance. >> thank you. of the asia subcommittee. >> mr. secretary, with regards to north korea, the obama administration has pursued a policy that some have referred to as strategic patience. we held kim jong-un boosting the jon un g uyn will see the error of his ways. the current dictator has surpassed his father and grandfather and unpredictability and recklessness. in a joint committee said hearing last week, both members agreed the policy of strategic patients has been a failure.

i appreciate your response. with burma, we have witnessed dramatic changes. there may be some bumps and the road ahead. we applaud the reforms of farmer happy to see an emerging the political process but we are witnessing an escalation of ethnic violence. the military remains one of the most powerful actors in the country and the instead of working to curtail ethnic violence, it is thought by many to be the perpetrator. it would appear the president cannot keep his regional commanders under control in many instances. what steps the administration be withg in his discussions burmese officials distressed the continued progress and still --

in civil society and democracy building, preferable to a policy that could lead to further strife.ethnic i would like to talk about taiwan for a minute. in 2001, there was an announcement by president bush at the time the washington's willingness to cooperate with taiwan in acquiring eight diesel $12tric submarines for billion. the official position of taiwan 's history of national defense remains committed to procuring those summaries from the u.s.. however, as the u.s. stopped making these submarines many years ago, the sale has been stalled. i know the work was some of our allies on this. could you advise what the current status of the submarine

being acquired by taiwan is? do not necessarily have to comment on this but former president -- the former president languishes to this .ay in a jail cell in taiwan to me, it smacks of the criminalization of politics. to the extent that this administration communicates with president -- with the president, i would urge you to urge the president to do the humanitarian thing. the president's health is failing. thank you. >> thank you, congressman. i will take that and follow up on it. let me see what we can do about that. on burma, you are absolutely correct. there will be bumps in the road. i hope not big ones. obviously things are happening today that were unimaginable two

years ago as the generals who imprisoned her are now standing with her but i am worried about the minority in the northwestern corner who are still being very badly treated. there are other issues. i cannot sit here and tell you i know with confidence how this will play out but we are constantly working to push it towards greater democratization. was the purpose of president obama's visit. i think you had a historic impact. on north korea, i would not describe our energy as strategic patience. i college strategic impatience. the conversations i've had in the region made it clear that we're not going down the same old road. . we are not going to reward them

and come to the table and get to some deal without some ironclad concept of how we're going forward on denuclearization. responded absolutely appropriately to the threats by making it clear that since guam was not densely threatened or the continental united states, the president took the steps necessary that any president should take to make sure you not taking anything for granted. we have made it clear we will defend our allies and our friends and interest. , it is very clear in the last 15 or 20 years that the united states does not have direct influence on north korea other than the military threat.

that has huge risks and dangers for somebody as untested and provocative and has proven themselves to be reckless over the course of the last month. china does have a relationship. china provide three quarters of and is ato the north i significant banking conduit. china provides food aid to the north. without china, north korea would collapse. therefore it is important for us to work with china. i think china has indicated its willingness to work with us. they also are worried about instability and i can understand that. china does not want to create greater instability in the peninsula or create a situation from a humanitarian point of view where they would inherit most of the problems. hopefully diplomacy can actually work here. work withe key -- to

the chinese to change the equation that has a bad syndrome .f total reneging >> mr. connolly of virginia. >> thank you. i was proud to have that kerry for president of virginia where f therriesd kerry in terms o democratic vote. and now you are secretary of state and i'm here. >> this is leading up to a big ask,. [laughter] and want to welcome you

congratulate you. i wanted to ask you abouttwo things --- two things. aid. .ome of us are very concerned the former chairman of this committee in the introduced a bill trying to streamline and make more focused the aid of legislation but in some ways, aid has been hollowed out. takes a great expertise that lots of great development experts went to. it largely has become a contracting management agency today. congress has a lot to do with that but shouldn't we be rebuilding aid to be the lead premier developing agency in the united states government?

you spent some time on that subject. congratulations on trying to interact between turkey and israel. verynk that is a important relationship in terms of our policy in the middle east and very important that relationship work. >> thank you. i'm grateful for your friendship and support through the years and thank you for being part of the staff early on when i first came. i appreciate that kind of friendship. it's important. >> thank you for that which is keep switzerland in mind, please.

keepr that but please switzerland in mind, please. [laughter] does amazing things that a lot of people don't see in a lot of parts of the world. there is an extraordinary amount of paper going on. you always hear about a fight should problem. .i.d. has to do is be the development entity in places no one else will go. sometimes invest in place with the economy is not where it would support necessarily a market solution which is why they have to be there. new have this corporation over but it is.i.d.

adopted significant reforms that have moved some of the development challenge kind of enterprises into aid. wherever we can, we are trying to do economic ace aid in the lower way that is sustainable and result in long-term gains. there are some places where you still have humanitarian demands and other kinds of demands -- lend themselves to that. we just need to understand that. for the minimalist fraction of a percentage of our aid that may represent, it still is an expression of our values and interests. it is important. we are -- i will not sit here and tell the committee the job is done. we are very focused on how we take the rest of the department

and bring it along further on this cover to react to a changed world. and to change requirements. i think you will see that as we go through this next year in many ways and the programs that were developing and supporting. we have done a -- they have done a great job of testing the reform agenda. there are people who do not like it in some places. there is always resistance to reform. so we're going to push ahead. i think you'll you'll like the result as we go forward. a very important step will take place next week. a meeting between the israelis and the turks, the next up of the agreed-upon roadmap and hopefully that will resolve the

compensation for victims and then there will be an exchange of ambassadors and we moved to the fullness of the relationship we are looking for. i'm very hopeful that can go or in without a hitch. >> mr. joe wilson of south carolina. uick thinking -- >> thank you. , and 1990 91 of the achievements of the administration was a nonproliferation agreement with the russian federation. part of that was an agreement to dispose of high-grade plutonium fuelt resulted in a mixed location. sadly the administration is reducing the funding for the construction of the facility. its six percent completed --

is 60% completed. from a nonproliferation dan from a nonproliferation standpoint, all of it is so positive. what should be done? >> i am not familiar with that. obviously from a macro policy point of view, we are very supportive of the nonproliferation initiative. i was concerned about the russian suspension of a component of her recently. i hope we will get back on track. that has been one of the most constructive thing i can think of. christ it really is a buyer appreciate you recognizing that.

-- it really is and we appreciate you recognizing that. secretary clinton was very .ositive and promoting trade in south carolina, we have had a remarkable situation in the last two years becoming the leading export of cars within a state and -- do any state in the united states thanks to bridgestone, michelin, continental tire. we are grateful for the theestments and estate -- investments in our state. we you continue the policies promoting trade between our countries and developing countries over the world? >> hugely. i said in my opening statement before the foreign relations for my confirmation

that in today's world, foreign ,olicy is to a large degree economic policy. i am to close on my -- i am working to .lose out my departmen appointms this is how we will be able to do things. leverage assistance. i wish we had more time and talk about a modern-day marshall plan, if you will. that is the way you will make a difference. we need to try to find ways to initiativesds of can help do that. , the presidentk

and prime minister have agreed to this as on initiative trying to bring the private sector to the table for rapid economic development to make a reference -- to make a difference. you can join both leverage development, create jobs. as the new model. we have to do a lot of work together to develop it area do -- to develop it. --dits i am also very grateful to be one of the few members of congress who have been to north korea. it would be in the interest of china for a more rational existence to be there. they can always see the positive example of south korea.

two percent of the twoent of chinese -- percent of the chinese workforce. secretary, it is a pleasure to welcome you to the committee. i also provide my thoughts and prayers to the city of austin -- of bosototiobon. after begin your tenure, you continue to push for information about my constituent now missing from iran for over 2,000 days. bnt ou tf that last

g was busted for m bombinh [indiscernible] mr. secretary, i hope he will continue to impress upon the europeans why it is important that you -- the eu designate hezbollah a terrorist organization. thought the window for a two state solution is shutting. there is perhaps one or two more years than it is over. believe that to be the

case, i hope you will press , presidentter abbas abbas, on preparing his people for peace. why is there not more focused on ?he negotiations he bypassed the negotiations to the -- to go to the united nations. statements that could be made. there is an awful lot that can be done. i will like to talk about iran sanctions. my colleague talked about significant reductions and i would acknowledge that under section 1245d, sanctions can be a country has

significantly decreased his volume of crude oil purchases. l experts have dropped significantly. in december, waivers for china and other countries were renewed for another 180 days. increasedd puts have as i understand it. to getnstitutes reduction question mark should definedned to family -- differently at this point given with the iranians are in the nuclear program?

about one million barrels per day. what are we doing to encourage the tother countries to do more so that oil imoportation if really reuduced. it seems that the for waiving sanctions again, there should theore done and expected of chinese in terms of real reduction. i want to send you the withstics that show you respect to the china question. there's a point point where these reductions become very -- it is not an excuse but there is a point where they become not

only very difficult for a particular country to go beyond a certain point but would they have an impact on the global price. you're going to season price changes that may have everybody screaming as the summer comes. things are interconnected. .here has been a net reduction engaged in some back channel diplomacy to the fig and get something done there. that has been raised that. in some-i've engaged back channel diplomacy to see

if they can get something done that. that has been raised at all levels. i emphasized our european friends via torrents of that in terms of dimming is greater financial tools -- of giving us greater financial tools. -- thetthe two state solution hurdle we have to get over is t ahe level of mistrust on both sides is gigantic. is not convinced that prime minister netanyahu or [indiscernible] we on the other side, israel is document palestinians and others will not give them the security they need.

so we have to find an equation to dispel those years of mistrust and get both sides to understand both things are possible. but is as far as i will go that the complication we are trying to undo years. i believe we can but you have to go carefully step-by-step. mr. secretary, congratulations on your new assignment. my condolences to the people in boston. i plan to visit on friday. theyesponse efforts shouldn't ration. it makes me proud to be an american.

my question has to do with benghazi. earlier this year secretary clinton testified. i asked about the class -- classified paper marked secret. -- in theble is the cable, it says benghazi could not withstand attack. could not be protected in an emergency meeting. plan was drafted to move the consulate usan-tions to a cia and - annex. may 22, the red cross building

was hit by two maortars. june 6, the u.s. consulate was targeted. reeditedit fortook c this. in written question afters th te who saw thai csng, i asked .abolle g.e resonse was disappointin it sdid not say who received the cablea nd whate and what specifc